Percy Jackson - Ask-Meme ficlets (a variety of mab's musings)
by Queenie Mab
Summary: Each chapter in this is a different ficlet - there will be a variety of pairings, of ratings, and story lengths as each ficlet was written to fill a prompt from a 50 prompt ask-meme on tumblr. Jercy, Solangelo, Zephyrollo, Apollomes, Theyna, Percabeth, Percicobeth, Percico, Jasiper, Percy/Apollo ... and more.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** Each chapter in this is a different ficlet - there will be a variety of pairings, of ratings, and story lengths as each ficlet was written to fill a prompt from a 50 prompt ask-meme on tumblr. I'm putting these out pretty quickly so be sure to subscribe for updates and feel free to just skip past the fics/pairings that you don't like. I am confident that we can all agree to avoid ship shaming here.

**Disclaimer:** All recognizable characters and themes are the property of Rick Riordan from the world of Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus. I am not making any money from this work of fiction. I'm just playing around in his sandbox.

XxxX

Are You Jealous? - Jercy Rated T

...

"Haha! Awesome!"

I climb out of the sun chariot/Maserati, adjusting the bow and quiver of arrows strapped to my back and bump Apollo's fist when he holds it out for me.

He smiles brightly, his teeth glinting and lifts his shades to see me better. "Keep practicing. You're looking real good." Then he winks and I back up, giving him room to gun the engine and take off in a blazing streak across the sky.

I'm wearing a huge grin when I turn around and spot Jason waiting for me, his arms folded across his chest. I run up to him.

"Dude, I just had the most wild ride. Apollo let me drive the sun for a while, and then we took turns shooting arrows at targets he conjured."

Jason frowns. "You were gone all day. We were supposed to work on the chariot for the race this weekend."

I wrinkle my forehead. "Yeah, but that's like five days from now. We've got time."

He glares at me and stalks away, his strides long and carrying him fast toward the boathouse.

I jog after him to catch up. "Come on, man. How often do you think I get a chance to drive the fucking sun? Apollo doesn't let just anyone drive it, you know."

I can see his shoulders tense under his T-shirt, his muscles tight. I grab his arm and get in his face, forcing him to stop. He's practically fuming. I'm risking getting shocked by touching him, but I gotta find out what's eating him up. And then it hits me.

"Wait a minute. Are you jealous?"

Blue sparks dance over his hair and I draw my hands back, lifting them to show I'm not threatening him. He scoffs and blows his bangs out of his eyes. "As if."

I can read Jason. He's totally jealous and for some inexplicable reason I find that incredibly hot. I step back into his space, my lips twitching. "You are." I grab his butt with both hands and squeeze it, looking into his stupidly blue eyes – my favorite color. "Tell me, Grace. Is it Apollo you're jealous of or the fact I got to drive the sun and you didn't?"

He's loosening up again, a sheepish look stealing over his face. Hands on his ass always do the trick. He shifts his eyes toward the boathouse door, then looks back at me. "There's another hour before campfire. Wanna set my mind at ease real quick?"

I grab his hand and lead the way.

"You know I'd never go for Apollo, right?"

He squeezes my hand. "He is pretty hot."

"Yeah, but. He's like your brother, and a god, and that's just gross," I say, pulling open the door and walking inside.

He follows and shuts the door, then pushes me up against it, and shuts me up the best way he knows how before I ruin the mood


	2. Chapter 2

These Games We Play (Thalia/Reyna) Rated T

...

"You can't recruit here. We've discussed this before."

I roll my eyes and pick at the hole in the knee of my jeans, leaning back against the heavy wooden table in the praetorium. This chick gets on my last nerve. I flick my bangs out of my eyes and return her glare. "I'm not recruiting, Reyna," I draw out her name, highlighting my annoyance. "We accept any girl who asks to join so long as she takes the pledge. It's not my fault the last half dozen have been from your camp. You can't shelter them, you know. If you send them out into the world on quests, you accept they risk death at the hands of monsters. That they might join the hunt and gain immortality is also a risk you have to accept."

She clenches her jaw, her cheekbones stand out high and strong, her eyes so dark and focused on my face emanating power, strength. Unbidden, the memory of how she subdued me in the past flashes through my mind. Her arm on my throat, nearly cutting off my air, trapping me with her body, holding me immobile between her thighs.

I push off from the table and start to walk, anything to get the air circulating a little. It's getting hot in here. Still, she doesn't move from her chair, her damn automaton dogs at her sides. I can feel the anger she's holding back, barely restrained under her mask of controlled authority.

What I wouldn't give to see her free from that, to watch her go barbarian, just let her power out without reins. She's like one of Artemis's wolves, holding themselves in check until they attack. The idea of Reyna taking me down like prey sends shivers through my body, electricity sparking off my hair.

My face colors. I hate when that happens by accident. It's a sign I'm not as in control of my own powers as Reyna is. The way her lips turn up at the corners lets me know she realizes it too.

And that is something I can't handle. "I don't have to stand here and listen to you, you know. Roman law has no jurisdiction over the hunters of Artemis. We answer only to the goddess herself."

"Those are the very words I do not need spoken to my legionnaires." Her voice is low and dangerous, enthralling. "They are young and still impressionable. Your talk of answering to no man, to living young and free forever is infectious and while I do not have the authority to take you to task, I will require that you wait outside the Caldecott tunnel while your new 'sister' gathers her belongings or to keep your mouth shut."

Oh hell no. Nobody talks to me like that. I'm Artemis's chosen lieutenant. I laugh dryly. "Keep my mouth shut? Why don't you come over here and make me? I'm itching to see you try."

She stands, her purple cloak billowing from her shoulders as she approaches, glinting with gold in the light from the torches. My fingers twitch, my muscles flexing, anticipation running through my body like a current.

I don't know how it's going to play out this time, but if it's anything like the last five, I'll be recruiting from the Romans as often as I can


	3. Chapter 3

Asking For Disaster (Percy/Apollo, Rachel) Rated T

...

"Please? He's driving me crazy," Rachel pleads.

"All right," I say, groaning. I scrub the sleep out of my eyes and glare at her. It's ass o'clock in the morning, my first morning back at camp in five years. You'd think I'd be allowed to sleep in at least once.

"Thanks, Percy. I wouldn't ask, but … I think you'll be able to get through to him." She gives me a weary smile before she leaves.

I blink, staring up at the ceiling of my cabin for a couple of minutes, my limbs heavy, like they want to pull me back under. I wonder what the hell is up with Apollo. I haven't even seen him since the war ended. I wonder why Rachel thinks _I'd_ be able to help him out. Apparently, he showed up a couple of months ago in her cave and practically moved in. Rachel says he's depressed, that he just lies around watching TV some days, not talking, and other times he's so clingy she can't get anything done.

I throw my blankets back, the cool sea-scented air washing over me and giving me the energy to move. Might as well get this over with.

XxxX

I push past the purple curtain covering the entrance to Rachel's cave and step inside. The only light at the moment comes from an old-fashioned oil lamp on one of the end tables. Rachel's couch has been altered into a low platform, still cushioned, but without a back or sides and Apollo is sprawled across it on his stomach.

He's dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and nothing else. There's a sort of heat rising off of him that makes me want to step closer, like basking in the warmth of a fire. I can see his back muscles move under his skin as he shifts, and then my face heats up when I realize he's looking at me.

"If it isn't Percy Jackson, Hero Extraordinaire. What've you been up to? It's been a long time."

He smiles lazily, not bothering to sit up, just lies on his side, twisting his torso so every single abdominal muscle is on display. His blond hair is bright in the dim light, gleaming golden and almost glowing like it's on fire.

I'm not an idiot, even though I sometimes sound like one. I know what this feeling in my guts is, this pull, but Apollo's a god. He's been around for eons and has so much more experience than me in every possible way. I don't need to be crushing on him.

I step forward a few paces, reminding myself to stay cool, to not let my hormones make me look stupid. "I've been fine," I lie. I'm not going to talk to Apollo about my failed love life. "Staying busy. What's up with you though? Rachel says you're off your game."

His smile slips and he rolls back onto his stomach, arms up, his face tucked to the side and hidden by his bicep. The silence between us starts to grow awkward until he finally speaks, his voice low and quiet. "I'm depressed."

I'm not sure why, but the honesty in his tone, the real sadness just hits me smack in the heart. I feel like I want to do something, anything to help cheer him up, but I don't have a clue where to start.

"Do you … well … I mean … I could give you a massage?" The words are out of my mouth before I even register them, but when he lifts his head, his eyes wide and hopeful, I don't want to take them back.

"I would welcome a massage," his eyes seem to twinkle and he pats the cushion he's lying on, an invitation.

I sit down, attempting to ignore the persistent ache in my groin at the idea of touching his body. A jar of massage oil appears beside me and I slick my hands with it. I hold my breath, my hands hovering over his back, the heat rising up from him making me heady. When I finally touch him, it's like the sensation of taking the first bite of one of my mom's homemade chocolate chip cookies, fresh out of the oven. I want to indulge until I gorge myself.

I spread the oil over his shoulder blades, gripping his ribs, sliding my hands down to his waist, and I have to adjust my position. I straddle his thighs without a thought, and run my hands up along his spine, then squeeze the tops of his shoulders. His breathing grows faster, soft sighs reaching my brain through the lust haze and I know I'm in trouble, beyond the ability to stop it.

Apollo flips himself onto his back faster than snake catching its prey and the next thing I know, he's tearing off my shirt and I'm drunk on his lips.

Disaster never tasted so sweet.


	4. Chapter 4

Forced Confessions - Jercy - Rated T

XxxX

"Mmmmm … hmmm …"

I'm slow to wake, the heaviness leaving my arms first. I'm really warm and reach out with my foot, seeking the edge of the blanket. If I could contact the cool air, I'd wake up faster. Instead, I hit another foot. My eyes fly open, and I drag my foot up and down, feeling the foot attached to a leg, and then, I really just need to roll over and figure out what the hell is going on.

"Oh … hmmm …" That voice again. I thought that was part of my dream. Okay, that's it. I roll over coming face to face with Jason. He's curled on his side a couple of inches away, but it's definitely him, sleeping, in my bed. I lift the blanket … naked.

I smack his arm.

"Wh - What?" He opens his eyes slowly, lopsided, like one of his eyelids is heavier than the other.. It makes me think his eyes are like marbles rolling around in there.

"Dude," I say, holding back a laugh, though I can't stop the smile from forming on my lips. "Is there a reason you're naked in my bed?"

He manages to get both eyelids lifted and stares at me for a really long pause. "I'm naked? Seriously?" He rolls onto his back, pulling the covers with him and scrubbing a hand over his eyes.

Okay, this is just getting plain weird now and I'm not laughing anymore. "Grace? Care to explain or do I have to kick your naked ass out and leave you to the mercy of the harpies?"

"Bad dream," he says, dropping his hand. He stares at the ceiling, his face going red. There's another long, awkward pause, then he looks at me. "Can I borrow some clothes, then I'll be out of your hair?"

"Sure, no problem." I climb out of bed in my T-shirt and boxers, my teeth chattering, and pull a spare T-shirt and jeans out of my closet. I hand them to Jason and crawl back under the blanket. The whole exchange feels surreal and it's starting to weird me out.

I roll on my side, facing away from him to give him privacy to dress. This tension between us, I'm trying to ignore, it's not new, but I thought things would be different now that the quest is over, now that we're moving on with our lives.

"Percy." I squeeze my eyes shut. The tone in his voice, a mix of aggravation, fear, and something we don't talk about. "I've got a real problem."

"What's the problem?" I roll back over. He's sitting up and holding what looks like a doll version of my shirt, his posture slumped, his face utterly wrecked. I've never seen Jason look so defeated. "Okay. We're dealing with a god, a goddess? Tell me about your dream, Grace, full truth."

"I was back in Diocletian's Palace with Nico, but this time it wasn't Nico Cupid wanted to force a confession out of, it was me." His voice sounds hollow when he talks, like he would be crying if he had any tears left. I've never even met this Cupid guy, but from what Jason's told me, I hate him.

I sit up, too and sling my arm around his waist. Sue me, the guy needs a hug. "Okay. So you fought him?" Jason nods. "Annnnd … lost?" He nods again. "And then you woke up naked in my bed?"

He starts laughing. It's like the sort of laughter that comes when you realize you're fucked and have nothing left to lose. My mouth twitches, my mind putting the pieces together. Forced confession, the refusal earned a naked wake up in my bed, when he tries to put clothes on, they shrink. I inhale sharply. It feels like all of a sudden my secrets are expanding, too big to keep inside any more.

Jason runs his hand down the side of my face, his lips, his eyes, right there. I swallow past the lump forming in my throat. "It's a curse," he says.

I wrinkle my forehead. "And to break it, Cupid thought a fuck or die scenario would break you?"

His breath huffs against my lips, and then I smash our mouths together, pure heat between us.

Honestly, as much fun as it is showing Cupid exactly how far I'll go to not let Jason break, he didn't need to be so dramatic about it. It would have happened eventually.


	5. Chapter 5

The Best and the Brightest - Solangelo - Rated T

XxxX

I get back home after another long day of lectures, the fifth in a row. "Nico? You here?" I call, but only silence answers me. I can't blame him for not wanting to hang around, not when I'm hardly ever home myself.

I walk down the narrow hall of our apartment and toss my backpack on the bed. I catch my reflection in the mirror over our dresser. Photos of us at camp stick out around the edges of the frame. It's hard to believe we've been gone from camp for two years already; I look so different, so grown up. It's not the same for Nico, not quite, leaving camp. I've never been away from my siblings in Apollo cabin for so long. It had been my home since I was nine and before that, well, switching schools several times a year, lost in the system after my mom died – a pretty typical story for a lot of campers.

I'm not sure why I'm feeling so melancholy. I grab a well-loved, crumpled photograph of all the Apollo campers before we'd lost Michael and Lee. I smooth it out as best I can, tears springing to my eyes against my will. I long for the old days, the simpler times, and then wipe my eyes. I'm being stupid. Those days were far from simple compared to now. I've got all I ever wanted, a fantastic boyfriend; I'm working hard towards med-school; I'm on track for the doctor title I've always coveted. I'm growing up. Nico is too. I put the photo back in the mirror frame and tell myself it's alright to let go.

I feel gross and when I strip my shirt off, I smell worse. I figure a bath will do me a world of good and hopefully Nico will be back before I crash for the night. On my way out the door, I stop and look at the calendar. Today's date has a heart drawn around it in red marker, my handwriting. My stomach sinks. We've been together five years and I'm the worst boyfriend ever for forgetting.

As I fill the tub, I wonder if that's why Nico's been away so much the past week. I turn on the cd player on the shelf over the sink, and then climb into the tub. What if he thinks I don't care, that we're growing apart or something? I wash, my thoughts spinning, and then I'm crying like a pathetic loser. School has me stressed to my last nerve, and then missing home, forgetting special dates … it just feels like too much all at once.

I lie back in the bath when I'm clean, not ready to get out, just listening until the disc stops playing, and then the ticking of the wall clock fills my ears, echoing emptiness, my bath growing cold.

A knock at the door makes me jump.

"Will? You in there?" Nico calls through the door. I look up, relief washing feeling back into my limbs. "Can I come in?"

I laugh through chattering teeth, calling back: "Yeah, I'm just getting out."

The door opens as I unplug the tub. I look up and see him leaning against the door jamb, watching me. His eyes are dark, smoldering. I feel my body heat rise as I stand up, my pulse racing as he takes in every inch of my body.

I climb out of the tub and towel off quickly, then wrap the towel around my waist and Nico meets my eyes, his mouth turning down at the corners, eyes widening. "You've been crying."

It doesn't matter now, all those tears and bitter worries. Seeing Nico concerned, here, dressed as always in a black tee and jeans – he fails at hiding how big his heart is in front of me. I step up into his space, thrilled when he doesn't try to run, those days are long passed. "I'm alright. I missed you," I say and then press our lips together.

I love kissing Nico. If I could only do one thing ever in life, it would be this. He moves his lips against mine, soft, warm, firm, and then breaks the kiss before I'm ready. I look at him, foreheads pressed together, our hands settled on each other's waists.

"Come on. I've got something for you," he says, a hint of mischief in his voice.

"Can I put my clothes on first?" I ask, letting go of him and backing up enough to give him room to move.

He gives me that evil smirk I love. "If you want to, but I'm kind of enjoying you out of them."

I make sure my towel is fastened at my waist and follow Nico to our small living room, my breath leaving me all at once. I'm greeted by bouquets of floating yellow and black balloons, vases of sunflowers on the dining table, and the smell of Nico's homemade lasagna coming from the tiny kitchen.

He sits on the couch and opens his arms for me to join him.

"You … you did all this for me?" I sit too, barely able to get my words out, I'm smiling too wide. His hand on my waist, he leans close and gestures to a present on the coffee table, whispering beside my ear. "Five years."

I turn and kiss him. There's no other way to say thank you to the sweetest guy ever. He grins against my lips, disrupting the kiss, and I pull back.

"But you hate balloons." I don't know why I'm pointing it out. I'm a little overwhelmed.

He just shrugs. "And you love them, and I love you."

All right. If he doesn't stop, I'm going to get weepy again. I swallow, my worries catching up with me. "I didn't …" I stammer. "I sort of forgot …"

He shushes me, brushing his lips over mine, then backs up a couple of inches. "You're doing what you need to be doing, stressing yourself half to death with schoolwork. I know it. It's my turn to do the surprising." He picks up the gift from the coffee table and puts it in my hands.

I open it, my fingers trembling, but the gentle strokes of his fingers against the back of my neck melts away my stress. It's a photo album. I open it, and from every page my siblings smile and wave at me, notes of encouragement scribbled from them in multi-colored handwriting. Even the new campers I don't know yet have written notes of introduction. I reach the last page and find a cell-phone selfie of my dad, his arm wrapped around Nico's shoulders, squeezing tight to prevent him from escaping. Apollo smiles bright and brilliant under his sunglasses, while Nico looks ready to bolt.

I burst out laughing. I know including the last photo was probably my dad's idea and that he'd probably twisted Nico's arm into doing it, but Nico doesn't try to explain himself or act put out at all. "So this is what you've been doing the past couple of weeks? Going back to camp to take pictures?"

"You like it?" he asks, his voice dropping, sending thrills of possibility running over my skin.

"I love it. I wish I had something for you."

My breath catches as he slips a hand under my towel. "Dinner won't be ready for about an hour."

Every hair on my body stands on end, my nerves awake and reaching for him. I settle back against his chest, running my hand over his thigh. "I think I can keep you entertained until then."


	6. Chapter 6

Nico Meets Rocky Horror (whether he wants to or not) - Solangelo - Rated T

XxxX

I bang on the bathroom door. "Come on, Will. We're supposed to be there in half an hour!"

"I know!" he calls back. "Just putting the last touches on my outfit!"

I throw up my hands and stomp back to the living room. I don't even want to go to this thing. Jason invited us to some movie showing, a cult classic cabaret, and if Will hadn't overheard him, maybe we would have had a nice night in for once. It's not often Will has a free night with all the classes he's taking.

I drop to the couch. I'm sulking, I know it.

Finally, the bathroom door opens, spilling out coconut scented steam. "All set!" he declares, sounding defiantly satisfied. I glare at the blank television set, wondering what is wrong with watching a movie here instead, and then I look up and my jaw drops.

He has to be kidding. He's dressed in a black vinyl corset over shiny golden briefs, black nylon stockings held in place with garters. He has a red sequined glove on one hand running up over his elbow and a black one on the other, a red feathered boa draped over his shoulders and arms. He's wearing make-up so his face looks like a mask, white for the base, his features outlined in black, eyelids highlighted and exaggerated with blue and his lips in cherry red. His nipples show over the top of the corset and his blond hair shines blonder than ever.

I stare, not quite believing my eyes.

He stamps his foot, and I see he's wearing heels too. "Well, come on. We're going to be late! Jason and Piper are going as Riff-Raff and Magenta, and Percy and Annabeth as Brad and Janet. You look fine as Eddie."

These words are nonsense in my ears. He isn't serious about going out in public, dressed like this.

"Off!" My voice sounds hoarse to my own ears. He's too fucking sexy for his own good and there is no way in Hades I'm letting anybody else see him like this.

"What?" he asks, frowning at me. "Tell me you didn't lie about watching the movie when I asked you to. Everybody's going to be dressed like this."

I shake my head. No way. "You heard me. Take. It. Off." I'm not sure if it's anger I'm feeling or if I just want to watch him undress. Man, those golden panties cling to him so well. My face is hot, my eyes wide. I'm almost ready to pounce on him and tear him out of the clothes myself.

Will knows me too well. He plays me for all I'm worth. He walks over to me, his heels putting him a good foot taller and walks me backwards until I hit the wall, his knee sliding effortlessly between my thighs, pinning me in place.

"Nico di Angelo. I have been wanting to go to a live Rocky Horror Cabaret for the last ten years. You will not talk me out of it." I swallow hard. His eyes are beautiful on their own, but with the eyeliner and color, they hold me enthralled. It's fear that has my heart pounding so hard, I know it is. Will could seriously own me if he wanted to. He grabs my crotch and smirks. "I promise to take care of this _after_ the show, capiche?"

I nod, forcing myself to close my mouth. I get it. If we don't go, I don't get laid.

He grins, then looks at my forehead. "Damn. I need to grab a couple of pencils. You're supposed to have a gash right under your hairline." He steps away and walks to the bathroom, calling over his shoulder: "We'll need to shadow travel. There's no way we'll make it otherwise."

I close my eyes, taking deep breaths. When he comes back and writes the letters spelling out LOVE and HATE above my knuckles, and I can only smile, I'm sure of it: I'm owned.

Stranger still, I don't think I really mind.


	7. Chapter 7

Lifted By the Wind - (Apollo/Zephyros) - Rated M

XxxX

_Kill me now,_ I think to myself as I park my car in the garage on Delos. How many eons do I have to keep up this sun gig?

My muscles are sore; I'm sweating all over; all I want to do for the next twelve hours is to crack open a beer, maybe take a shower, jerk off to some porn … you know, relax.

I open the door to my bachelor's pad, ready to knock these things off my to-do list and instead, I'm blown off course. My bed is occupied by somebody other than me, and by the way the sheets are moving, he's knocking things off himself.

I step closer, building myself up with whatever power is left from my hard day's drive, and then I just don't give fuck. I clear my throat.

The sheets stop quivering and the guy in my bed sits up, the sheet pooling at his waist. It's Zephyros, my once upon a time rival and I can't do anything about that, not while he's under Eros's protection. He grins at me, his teeth gleaming white. His thick black hair hangs in curtains around his face, past his shoulders. He looks damn fine.

I shake myself, remembering I'm supposed to be upset. "Is there a reason you're naked in my bed?" I ask him. It doesn't come out sounding annoyed as I'd intended, more like curious. I'm too tired to care.

"Well, yes, actually," he says and pats the mattress in front of him. "Apollo, we've been at odds for long enough, don't you think?"

I take a seat, and kick off my flip flops, then sit cross-legged facing him. I rest my chin on my fist and hold it up with my elbow. I half shrug because it's hard to shrug in this position. "What do you propose?"

He leans back, lifting his legs, and pushes the sheet down with his feet until he's entirely exposed, lying back against my pillows, looking like a wet dream. He positions his legs, one extended, the toes next to my knee and the other he lets fall to the side, bent at the knee, giving me a stage view of his cock and balls.

Stirrings of arousal start chasing through my stomach. Before I realize what I'm doing, I sit upright, pinching my nipples.

"You're interested," he says, his voice wafting over me like a warm breeze.

I try to recall the animosity between us, the reason we'd fallen out so long ago, but the feeling won't muster. I discovered too late that the entire thing had been orchestrated by Eros, first to send my love life spiralling to another level of low, and then, to gain himself an errand boy, and, in a sense, tame a powerful wind.

It's all so far long gone, I'm not even bitter at Eros any more. I take in the divine beauty on my bed, laid out so ripe and ready for me. Interested is one way of putting what I am.

I pull off my tank top and vanish my jeans, then I crawl up Zephyros's body, pressing our chests together, breathing in his sweet scent, getting high on it. "I'm up for whatever you've got planned. Just say the word."

"Really?" he asks, teasing me with his sing-song voice.

I nod and meet his lips, losing myself in the velvety-soft heat of his mouth. When we break apart, he rolls us over, pushing my thighs up to my chest and holding them there.

"I love it when you sing," he says, and then proceeds to play my body like a master, coaxing arias out of me with prods of his tongue, his cock a conductor's baton.

XxxX

When we lie tangled together in the afterglow, I smooth his hair back from his face, my mind still blown wide. He smiles up at me, nuzzling his face into the side of my chest.

"Stay?" I ask, more tender than I'm used to sounding.

"How long?" he mumbles against my skin.

"However long you want." It seems like the best way to answer and not put him off.

"Okay. Sleep now."

I find myself smiling, warm, sated, and best of all, tomorrow's drive won't be nearly so bad knowing I've got a beautiful wind god waiting for me when I get home.


	8. Chapter 8

For What it's Worth - Apollo/Hermes - Rated M

XxxX

I sniffle, bound with a golden rope, sprawled on my ass in the throne room on Olympus. Great. There's no telling what sort of punishment father's going to give me for waking up the fucking Earth, even though it's entirely not my fault.

"There's no sense getting weepy, Apollo," Hermes booms from the end of the room. I twist, my arms are bound to my sides, making it difficult to get myself into a position where I can see him.

He walks toward me looking as always, like a young professional gone early grey from too much stress. I hate it. Hermes is my baby brother, but time and time again he's the one comforting me after I get myself in various scrapes.

"What are you doing here? Come to gloat?" I sound petulant, but I can't help it. This whole situation is beyond unfair.

He kneels at my side and tugs the rope until I'm able to stand on my feet. "Father sent me to keep an eye on you. Seems he doesn't trust you very much."

I scoff, bitter tears springing to my eyes. Worse still, I can't even wipe them away before Hermes sees them. He does it for me. I stare at the floor. "So what? You're gonna drag me around, trussed up like a pig until Father comes back to open a can of whoop-ass?"

"No." He hoists me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and lifts off, his sandals flapping. "I'm going to keep you company until he returns, help you get your story straight. If we work together, we can find a way to get you out of this jam."

I close my eyes, breathing in the wild scent of my little brother, unwilling to let him know how touched I am.

XxxX

Hermes manages to alter the golden rope binding me to pair of hand cuffs with a three foot chain between them. At least I'm able to move around without difficulty now. He summons nectar and ambrosia and watches me eat and drink. We sit on the hearth rug in Hermes' room, though we have no need of a fire.

"I'm not a baby. I can do this without your constant supervision."

He raises an eyebrow and scratches his chin. "Like how you took care of yourself after the quoit ring incident? Sorry, brother. I'm afraid you're going to have to be a good boy with me watching over you. I'm not about to see you fall into another deep depression."

My face burns. I hate it when people remind me of my past failures. I pop an ambrosia square into my mouth and chew it though it tastes like sand. I hate the way he looks with salt and pepper hair and crows feet at his eyes. What is the point of being an immortal god if you let yourself look run down and aged?

I try to recall how he used to look, back in the days when we'd tag-team our lovers. I think I'm going to catch fire if I keep thinking about that. I was such an arrogant shit in those days and I never admitted to why I wanted to bring him along … I wanted him myself.

He stretches and leans back on his hands, his legs outstretched and crossed at the ankles. He's wearing track pants, and I follow the stripe up the side of his leg to his hip, imagining him without the modern attire, back when he'd wear a simple chiton, his legs long, shapely, bronzed by the sun.

I choke down the last of the ambrosia, chasing it with a swig of nectar. "There. I'm fed. What's next? We get down to the legalese or what?"

I'm so tired, I wish I was dead. Then I could just drift about, watching, except, as a god, that would mean I'd fade from the minds and memories of men. The very idea makes my heart ache in my chest.

"No. First you're going to have a bath, and then rest. You need sleep."

I glare at him. "I don't _need_ any of it, Hermes. I'm a god, not some frail mortal."

Still, I climb to my feet. In all honesty a bath and some shut-eye sounds like a dream right now. I'm arguing more out of habit than true annoyance.

He chuckles and follows me as I walk to his bathroom. "You're closer to mortals than you are to the Olympians, Apollo. I think you know that as well as I do." I freeze beside the bathtub, not wanting to examine the truth of his statement. I hear him close the door behind him and then walk across the tiles and stand behind my back.

"It isn't fair," I whisper. I think it's safe to speak freely in here, but I'm never sure of what godlings may be lurking about, listening in, on my father's orders.

He breathes out heavily, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, not in fear, but in anticipation of what could be. That's what he refers to when he compares me to mortals, my ability to see the potential of people or situations where other gods only see what lies before their eyes.

He leans past me, brushing my arm and sending small currents of pleasure running up it. He turns on the water, and then steps back. "I'll have to undress you. I don't think you'll be able to manage it on your own with the cuffs."

"Fine," I murmur. I don't really mind, but still, I don't want to feel so alone anymore. I need someone to confide in, to speak my mind without fear of judgement. My clothes disappear in a swirl of vapor and I turn to him, reaching out my hand. "Come with me."

He nods slowly. I can see he's thinking, probably weighing the risk of how much he stands to lose if he allies himself with me, but it's hard to tell with other gods. Mortals, I can usually read pretty well, but like Hermes said, I'm different.

I turn off the faucet, climb into the tub and lower myself into the steaming water. Hermes climbs in too, surprising me when he climbs in behind me, his legs stretching out beside mine. It's awkward, not being face to face, but then he pulls me back against his chest, wrapping me up in his warm arms and I go with it, not willing to say something that might upset the truce between us.

"You remember the old days?" he asks. "You'd sneak into my room through the window at night and crawl into my bed. And when I'd ask you about it in the morning, you'd say you just needed to cuddle?"

I chuckle. That was back before I got mixed up with Eros, back before father started using me as a guinea pig to test his theories on changing the mortals. My smiles slips. "Hermes, can you keep a secret?"

He grunts. It rumbles through my back from his chest. I take it to mean yes.

"I have a soul, and … I have dreams." My words are barely louder than a whisper, but I know he heard them.

"And that's why you're so precious, and why I swear I will do everything in my power to make sure father's judgement is fair and lenient."

I rub his leg absently, overcome by the need to touch him, to really connect. I don't care how inappropriate it might seem to others, to need my brother, to look for comfort in the man in charge of jailing me. I feel his cock stiffen under my back, his heart speed up beneath my ear, and I turn my head and kiss his nipple, relishing his quick intake of breath. I want him.

"Apollo?" The question in my name could be read in so many ways, but there's only one way I choose to read it now.

I look up into his eyes and find desire. "I wish I could hate you," I tell him, turning over in the bathwater and holding onto his shoulders, grinding our groins together in a blaze of want. "But I don't think I can, even if you betray me."

He touches my face and I melt into his kiss. As for how my punishment will play out, that can wait until another day.


	9. Chapter 9

An Oath to Keep - Solangelo - Rated T  
(warning - character death)

XxxX

"Nico, how many times do I have to tell you? You're going to fade away, dissolve into vapor to a point I won't be able to bring you back!"

I left him standing in the infirmary and I shadow-traveled to my cabin. I was in a shadow coma for two weeks and woke to find Will crying his eyes out on my bed.

When he saw me sitting up, blinking at him, he threw his arms around me and kissed me for the first time and I kissed him back, finally grounded, fully inside myself. We broke apart, leaning forehead to forehead, one of his arms around my back, the other cradling my head, and his words washed over me like a healing balm, like sunshine. "I love you, Nico. Please stay. I couldn't … To think I almost lost you … If you hadn't …"

I stroked his cheek and made a vow. "I'll stay. I promise."

"Really?" He pulled back, grimacing at his stiff back, one eyebrow raised as if he didn't quite buy it.

And I said the words that haunt me now. "I swear it on the River Styx."

His smile made me think it was worth it. Ear to ear, his inner radiance shone through. "I'll hold you to that, death boy. Come on, you _need _to eat."

XxxX

How many times did he remind me of my oath in the following year? Exactly zero. The closer Will and I got, the more I realized he could read me. He didn't need to remind me not to abuse my powers, I reminded myself, and him (more frequently than I like to admit).

We spent the year growing together. I learned how to assist more directly in the infirmary, even how to set a broken bone, to recognize an allergic reaction, and how to use my power over people's dreams to buy the healers some extra time in an emergency.

Will, in turn, took up sword training and finally, finally figured out how to get over his hang-up with archery. I remember the first time he hit the bullseye on purpose, the way it seemed like a film lifted from his eyes and he could see past the mental block he'd developed years ago.

XxxX

I kick myself for encouraging him now. How could I have done it? He's not a fighter; he's not a killer. He's a healer and there's nothing wrong with that. It's too late for regrets now. My heart leaps in my chest as we duck behind a tree trunk, narrowly avoiding being hit by shrapnel when the medical van explodes.

Will takes a couple of deep breaths, finding his center. I'm already calm, collected, strategizing. I look at him and he shakes his head, reading my intentions. I put my hands on his arms and force him to look at me, crouched low behind the tree, shrouded by its shadow. "Please, Will. This is life and death. There are only three of them left and they're regrouping at the river. If I shadow-travel, I should be able to take at least one by surprise and the one you wounded won't be hard to subdue. I can do it and make it back in no time."

He stares past me at the burning van, all the medical supplies we were delivering to camp gone up in smoke, and then he meets my gaze. I can see him thinking over my plan, searching for an alternative or weighing the risk. "Okay. Don't forget, Dracanae can sense heat patterns so be quick and don't feel safe in the shadows, and watch their tails, they can use them independently."

I nod. I know this information already, but Will is good about refreshing my mind when I need it. I start to pull back, but he grips my coat tighter, and pulls me close. "Kiss, for good luck?"

He doesn't answer with words.

I fade into the shadow of the tree, my lips tingling and a desperate yearning to have this finished fast so we can get on with our mission.

I spot the snake women beside the river as I expected. They're hastily pulling out the ingredients for another one of their bombs, crushing them with a large mortar and pestle, murmuring a spell as they go.

It's now or never. I swing my blade in an arc at the same moment I step out of the shadow, and the Dracanae holding the bowl crumbles into dust. I take another step, and bring my sword up, leaping to the right to avoid getting swept by a serpent tail and slash her head clean from her neck. I breathe heavily, monster dust clogging my nose. The wounded one … I sweep the area with my eyes … is not here.

And then I hear it, a sound that stops my heart, freezes me in my tracks. A cry of pain from a voice that … My blood boils, my eyeballs throbbing, and I fade into the shadows and reappear in time to slash the third to ribbons of yellow smoke. I turn, my shoes slipping in the wet leaves, and run to Will.

He's down. I drop to my knees beside him, all the training I've had racing through my mind, keeping my body calm, even as my mind screams.

I pull his shoulders into my lap, cradling his head, and he looks up at me. "Where are you hurt?" My throat feels like I'm choking. He opens his mouth to say something and blood dribbles out. I feel Thanatos breathing down the back of my neck. "No. Nonononono. Not yet, not here."

His blue eyes look up at me as though seeing through a fog. I start to chant, to reach out to him, to put him into a deep sleep, perhaps deep enough death won't be able to find him and I'll have a chance to treat his wound, but he shakes his head ever so slightly, his mouth forming a word that comes out as a gurgle. "Pro-mise?"

My eyes burn as my tears come. How dare he bring that up now? Now? "No, please, please, don't leave me!" Sobs bubble up from my chest, racking my body, my bones, but I won't look away, can't, and then the light leaves his eyes. I hear his soul pass into Thanatos's embrace like the snuffing of a candle, and then they're gone with the whisper of death's cloak.

And the bloody promise, the oath. I can't follow him. Instead I curl around his body, soaking up the last of his warmth and cry until I have no tears left.

It takes a very long time.


	10. Chapter 10

Tightass Jeans - Solangelo - Rated M

XxxX

"Hey, these jeans aren't mine," Will says, digging through our shared suitcase.

I look up from tending my father's altar in the corner of the cabin to see what he's talking about. "Oh, those are mine." I don't even know why he would think they were his; he doesn't wear black unless I make him. He's only got one pair of black jeans anyway.

We're back at Camp Half-Blood for the weekend with special permission from Chiron to give Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Will and me a chance to catch up. It's been seven, or is it eight years since our quest to defeat Gaea ended. I don't even know. Time still feels tricky to me. After it slowed down to the point of stopping in the Lotus Casino, and then jettisoned me seventy years into the future all at once, I don't like thinking about it.

"But they're big," Will insists, checking the tag. He looks up at me from under playfully raised eyebrows. "At least two sizes. I wonder if they'd fit me."

I roll my eyes. My boyfriend is simultaneously one of the smartest people I know and the most insufferably young at heart. I smile despite myself. I love that about him, even if I act like it annoys me.

"Sure, fine," I murmur as I light a sprig of incense to chase away the stagnant air of vacancy that has fallen in the cabin. The incense is one of Persephone's blends; my father will find it pleasing.

"Well?" Will asks when I look over, his hands on his hips. I pause, unable to move my eyes up past his hips. The jeans fit him, barely. They aren't so tight as to be obscene, at least as long as he keeps his underwear on and doesn't get a stiffy, the very idea of which has me halfway there. They cling to his long legs, accentuate his taut curves. "What do you think from the back?" He turns around and I'm all the way hard in an instant. I stand up and adjust myself out of necessity. The backside of the jeans mold to Will's ass like they were painted on. I take a few steps closer, my eyes fixed on where his cheeks meet in the middle, my mouth watering.

I shake myself before I start going Pavlovian on him. "No. Take them off. I don't want you to wear them out."

He turns back around and I snap my eyes to his face, not wanting him to see me ogling his ass. He smiles, turning on his charm. If Aphrodite passes charmspeak down through her daughters that works on straight guys, then Apollo's doing the damn same thing to his sons for gay guys. There's no other explanation for how Will manages to convince me it's fine for him to wear those jeans in public.

"Come on, Nico. It'll be hilarious. It's only our friends who will see, and they're not going to judge. Besides, we'll be out in public when the sky is dark. Not like I'm going to be walking all up and down the streets of New York. We'll be in the van for the drive to town, a short walk at twilight to the theatre and it's dark in there, then it'll be night when we leave."

I drown in the blue of his eyes, utterly whipped. He bats his eyelashes and I can't say no.

"Alright." He grins and kisses me and wrapped in his lips, my hands on his ass, all I want to do is call off tonight's plans and throw him down and fuck him, maybe even through the jeans. I'm wondering what sort of blade I could use to cut a hole in the fabric without cutting him when he breaks the kiss. His eyes sparkle as if he can read exactly where my mind has gone, and I cast around for something to say as a cover for my thoughts. "Why can't you wear your own jeans again?"

He smirks and turns around, waving the question away on his way to the bathroom. I let the question fade, my eyes on his ass until it's out of sight.

"I'll be ready to go in two minutes," he calls from the open door, bringing me out of my stupor. "Don't forget your wallet this time. I wonder if you do it on purpose so they won't admit us."

I scowl. It's not my fault I look younger than I am. He knows it too, and he loves it. I can't even count the number of times he's reminded me to be thankful for my youth, that we'll be the hottest couple among our circle of friends, the longest. I pat my jeans, to make sure I do have my wallet, and then keep patting. My front pockets, my back pockets, panic rising up in my chest until I spot it on the dresser. That damn punk – he probably saves me from embarrassment more times than he puts me at risk of it. I shove my wallet in my back pocket and look around for my boots.

XxxX

When we meet the van, it's bad. Piper and Annabeth insist that Will give them a twirl so they can admire his 'tightass jeans' and Percy and Jason seem to leer at him a little too openly for my comfort, even if they're so blind they don't realize they're doing it.

The drive into New York is madness as Will carries on chatting with the others while we're wedged in the far back seat, absently running his hand up and down his thigh. It's pressed tightly next to mine, his body heat driving my arousal to a fever pitch.

Walking through town to the theatre is another level of torture. I haven't been so hard for so long ever and trying to walk without letting my erection show, let me tell you, it isn't easy or comfortable. Worse still, the twilight he promised doesn't pay off, not with a street lamp on every single block and a million neon signs blazing down and lending his legs and ass a multicolored glow. He gets cat-called by men and a few women from their car windows, cracking Percy and Jason up when he answers the worst of them with an elegant flip of his middle finger.

He teases me all through the movie. Holding my hand on his thigh, guiding it down near his groin, my breath hitching. _What if someone sees us_ warring in my mind with _Styx! Let me feel your junk_. Only to have him guide my hand back to his knee, silently declaring his groin off limits. I'm not even watching the movie, though he appears to be captivated by it and all this teasing is entirely reflexive on his part. I'm so wound up, my cock is ready to pop the seam in my jeans. I'm going to have to wear my coat tied around my waist for the walk back if the pressure doesn't let up.

I make a mad dash for the bathroom before the lights come up and the credits start rolling, and Will insists on coming too so I can't even jerk myself off in a stall without him noticing. Somehow, I manage to relieve myself and get my erection to go down a little, and we make it back to the van without incident.

The reprieve doesn't last. I can't keep up with the laughter-heavy conversation, not with my not-helpful boyfriend getting me so hot and bothered I want to scream, his hand riding up on my thigh every time I think I have it under control. It's easier to feign sleep than to ride in the same vehicle with Percy and Jason, radiating my horniness all over the place as I try to talk. They wouldn't hesitate to tease me, at least, as long as they feel they're far enough away I can't reach them with my sword.

Finally we get back to camp and wave goodbye to the others by Cabin one. I turn on my heel and start walking, my skin prickling as I feel Will's eyes on my back. He knows. He totally knows what he's doing, damn him. And damn it to fucking Tartarus that Hades cabin is all the way at the other end of the green. It feels like forever away, the night the only saving grace. As it's past curfew, there aren't any campers running amok and the harpies have instructions to leave us alone during our visit.

Will's breathing as he catches up with me grows heavy; he's not as unaffected by the teasing as he's been acting. I climb the porch stairs at last and push open the cabin door, striding through it. As soon as Will is over the doorstep, I grab him by the shirtfront, kick the door closed and push him up against it. Height difference be damned. I will take what I want.

I hold him in place and devour him with my eyes. He squirms under my hold, the head of his cock popping out the top of _my_ jeans. _He didn't go out in those jeans without underwear! Wait, this is Will I'm thinking about. Of course he did._ Poor thing has to be sweltering in there, his musk rich, his balls full and ready to burst. I have to stop and remember to breathe when vertigo hits me.

He struggles a little, though if he wanted to free himself he could. I think he's squirming for me to get closer, to touch him. A glassy pearl forms at the tip of his cock, and I can feel as well as hear his lungs filling and exhaling deeper, faster; he's close.

"Nico," he whimpers. I glance at his face and then return my attention to his groin. "If you keep looking at me like that we won't make it to the bed."

I huff, laughing short. I have no intention of making it to the bed. We're past the point of making it to the bed. He's earned this sweet torture. I meet his eyes again, watching them grow wide, then the lids fall halfway. Yes. He knows what he did to deserve the wait.

I move my hand to his left shoulder, then settle my other on his right and pull him down so he has to slouch, spreading his legs and bending at the knees a little, and then I push myself against his chest. I clamp my mouth down on his neck, making him hiss as I suck a red bruise into his flesh. He settles a hand on the back of my head, gently making a fist in my hair, crying out, and squeezing my ass so our bulges bump, sending a mixture of pain and utter need pumping in my balls, aching in my cock. I release my suction and lick the angry mark, frantically working his button-fly open.

"Ni-co," he gasps as his cock springs free, his balls still trapped, heavy, red, and pleated with fabric markings. "I'm not gonna last."

I don't even care. I'm so beyond waiting it isn't funny and I tug on the jeans at his hips without success. "It's okay," I tell him, soothing my hand down the front of his shirt, not daring to put any more pressure on his cock. I'm lying. I need him something fierce. "Come on, babe. Down on the floor." I toss my jacket down. "Rest your arms on that."

I step back, while he does as I ask, the tight jeans stubbornly clinging to his hips. I fumble my fly open, finally pulling my angry cock out through the hole in my boxers. It's not ideal, but it'll do. I fall to my knees behind him and tug on the jeans, slowly peeling them down to his knees. Gods, I'm so far-gone, I almost forget fucking him dry will hurt him and instead run a hand up his back while he supports his head on his arms, his ass up, waiting.

I push his cheeks apart, holding them with one hand and dive between them with my tongue, his moans and squeals, music to my ears. My heart thuds so heavy in my chest, so hard it feels slower than it is and I can't spend much longer prepping him. I need to get in there. I pull back and run my cock up his cleft, feeling his hole loosen under it, ready to take it.

"No. Nico. Wait."

I want to cry.

"Yeah?" I ask, pausing, my cock dribbling pre-come and my vision already starting to narrow.

"We – we can't," he gasps, choking. "Condom."

My vision goes red. I'm still not sold on the whole condom deal, but Will assures me that it's due to my time loss, that in today's world, he can't work as a doctor and not practice what he preaches. There's no way I'll last long enough to get a condom and come back, and then an idea strikes me.

"It's okay," I say, soothing him, still dragging up and down his sweet crack. "I want you to do what I tell you. I'll get into position and then you tighten your thighs."

He relaxes, understanding I'm not going to coerce him. I smack his left ass cheek - though not hard - for doubting me, and then I slot myself between his thighs, following as he lowers his legs and ass to the floor, shuffling my coat so his cock doesn't touch the flagstones. His thighs grip tight and I groan. There's hardly room enough to do this with his jeans still trapping his legs over his knees, but he's slick from sweat and I'm desperate. I push forward as far as I can between his thighs, bumping his balls with my cock and making him cry out again. I back up and thrust forward and it only takes a few more times before he squeezes his ass cheeks, his thighs trembling and I let my load go, bumping up and soaking his balls.

I collapse in a heap on top of him, so gone I'm ready to pass out.

He shifts, mumbling something I can't make out. I lift my heavy head. "Huh?"

"I said … you're crushing me."

I roll off of him and onto the cold floor, my breathing slowing down, eyes closing on their own.

The last thing I see and hear is Will's reddened face, a bright hickey on his neck and his dazzling blue eyes as he says: "I think you were right about these jeans."


	11. Chapter 11

Cockblocked! (written and performed by Apollo, a song!fic) - Rated M for language/suggestive content

XxxX

Apollo stands at center stage, riffing on his electric guitar, screaming his hard rock song into the mic. Rocking out his frustrations.

I'm feeling down, can't get it up  
drowning nectar in my cup  
Cause that EROS' just too much  
always breaking my hookups

And I'm cockblocked!

YOU hear me? Cockblocked!

Cockblocking the cockblocker  
gonna be a real shocker  
Cockblocking the cockblocker  
cause my cock will not be stopped!

Cockblocking the cockblocker  
gonna free my old stalker  
Cockblocking the cockblocker  
Wipe the smirk right off his face!

Zephyros - Uhh, Apollo, that doesn't rhyme?  
Apollo - Are you the god of music?  
Zephyros - Err, no  
Apollo - then stop try'na block my jam.  
Zepyros - *hands up and leans against the wall, amused*  
Apollo - Right then …

Time to call the love god out  
make him cry or make him pout  
beyond the measure of all doubt  
Fair play fucks the turnabout

And he'll be cockblocked!

YOU hear me? Cockblocked!

Cockblocking the cockblocker  
gonna be a real shocker  
Cockblocking the cockblocker  
cause my cock is cream of the crop!

Cockblocking the cockblocker  
hand in hand with my stalker  
Cockblocking the cockblocker  
Zephyr? You up for a fuck?

Zephyros -  
Apollo - Well?  
Zephyros - Oh, you're asking me? I thought that was part of the song.  
Apollo - It's both. You do understand how music works, right? How a lyric can have multiple meanings?  
Zephryos - Right. *stands up, dusts off hands, flutters wings* Sure, I'm up for it.  
Apollo - *sets down guitar, grinning wide.

Eros - *shimmers into existence, blocking his path* Ahem?  
Apollo - Are you serious, man? I never get to have anything I want!  
Zephyros - Well, this is awkward.

Apollo - *screams* I'm so fucking Cockblocked!


	12. Chapter 12

What it's All About - Jason/Piper - Rated T

XxxX

I grip the my knees tight, trying to wipe the sweat off my palms as the plane shakes and shudders with turbulence, the roaring of the engines loud in my ears. We touch down with a bump and seem to be shooting forward faster than ever until the brakes engage and the plane slows on the runway.

It's not the plane that has my heart racing, my neck breaking out in a cold sweat. No, it's what's waiting at the end of our journey: Piper's dad. As far as Tristan McLean, action hero movie star knows, this is the first time he's met me. Even if still had his memories from our first meeting, it will be my first introduction as Piper's boyfriend. I'm freaking out a little.

I hardly hear the pilot's voice welcoming us to Los Angeles. Piper sets her hand on top of mine and gives it a squeeze. "Alright there, Sparky?"

"Yeah," I say, then clear my throat to get the shakiness out of my voice. I raise and lower my eyebrows a couple of times, trying to get my glasses to sit right on the bridge of my nose without my hands, a stupid nervous habit I've developed, and Piper pulls them off for me, wipes the lenses with her shirt, and puts them back on straight. "I'm fine."

"He's going to love you, and I promise he's not scary."

"Wanna bet?" I say under my breath. She rolls her eyes. The fasten seatbelts sign flashes off and she lifts the latches on our belts, then stands up, and grabs my hand. I get to my feet and follow her to the terminal.

XxxX

On the road to Santa Monica, Piper checks her email on an ipad provided by her father's chauffeur. I'm not sure she really gets how intimidating this trip is for me. Even looking past the movie star aspect, I'm more worried about the questions her dad will ask me. Like, what I do for a living, what my plans are for the future, why I'm worthy of dating his daughter. I can't exactly pull the Son of Jupiter, Pontifex Maximus card with him. He's going to love me?

"Jason," she says, slipping her hand into mine, linking our elbows. "I'm … Just stay with me, will you? I hate lying to him about … everything. It's hard, you know?"

The limo pulls into a long gated drive lined with palm trees. The gate swings open to let us pass and closes as soon as the car is through. It'll be okay, I tell myself. Who cares what her dad thinks about me. Well, I do, but still … What really matters is that I'm here for Piper, a friend to fall back on when it gets tough. This reunion with her dad; it's not about me.


	13. Chapter 13

Life Happens to Us All - Pecicobeth - Rated M

XxxX

"You sure you're ready, man?" Percy asks from the doorway."We're both okay with having you stay as long as you need to."

"I'm … I think I'll be okay. Thanks, you know … for everything."

I don't need to say any more than that. He gets it. He walks toward me and sits next to me on the edge of the bed, my backpack is all set and ready at my feet. My skin heats up as he slips his arm around my waist, and it feels good to relax in his embrace, his chin on my shoulder. Took us until our thirties to be really comfortable around each other. I rub my cheek against his and he moves, gripping my chin, sending a tremor through my nerves. Our mouths meet and I sigh into the kiss, lips parting, tongues brushing, gratitude and relief rushing through me, over me. Eight weeks in their guest room is long enough. I break the kiss and pull away. He groans, pressing his hand to his groin, his sea-green eyes clouded with arousal. It's time for me to move on, to start over.

XxxX

I'd almost faded entirely, that had been my goal. I shadow-traveled without aim, and then Percy's face swam before my eyes while my mind cried out _No, not you._ My vision blurred, my hearing dimmed, and I could just make out Annabeth's face, her forehead creased, eyes full of fear, lips forming words, and then it all went black.

I woke after a couple of days in their house, though I wasn't ready to talk. Instead, they'd take turns sitting in a chair beside me, talking about whatever came to mind, reading me stories they thought I'd like, sharing current events, news from Camp Half-Blood, and I slowly started feeling real again. The catalyst that got me talking happened sometime my third or fourth week with them.

Percy's words echoed through my skull. "It's rough though, getting used to the idea of not having kids. We've asked around, and it seems infertility happens to a lot of children of Athena. The mortal doctors confirmed it. But, you know, it's not all bad. We've been talking adoption, just gotta think about it a while longer."

My tongue moved, my mouth answering on its own. I wasn't consciously going to speak, but once I started, I couldn't stop. "That's why it didn't work out with me and Jack …" I sounded so raw, so rusty, and Percy froze and looked at me, listening, smiling softly. "I wanted a family … He didn't." Talking got easier as I went on, my vocal chords warming up. "That's what I get for falling in love, for falling for a mortal. He chose to forget us rather than work it out. Chiron secured a Hypnos draught …" I fell silent.

"So you tried to fade into shadow permanently? You had us scared, dude. If we hadn't found you... "

Tears fell from my eyes. I was ashamed. "I'm sorry."

We sat in silence for a long time while he held my hand.

I woke one night, my heart pounding. I felt like there was a gaping hole in my chest, in my soul, and I needed to reach out, to connect with somebody before I started fading again. I could hear soft giggling coming through the wall between the bedrooms, but it didn't deter me. In a daze my feet carried me to their door.

Percy answered, a hastily drawn on bathrobe covering him. "Bad timing …" he started to say, and then looked into my eyes and opened his arms. I stepped into his embrace, holding on for dear life, finding life.

Annabeth's voice rose from the bed. "Come here, Nico. Sleep in here with us tonight."

I looked up as Percy and she exchanged a look. He turned his gaze back to me, open, honest. "Please?"

My mind whirled as he leaned down, brushing our lips together.

It happened organically, unplanned, unrushed, and I found myself with Annabeth's lips wrapped around my cock, my hand in her hair and twisting my torso as Percy kissed me, his fingers coaxing me open, and we breathed each other's air.

Annabeth pulled us toward the bed. She lay down against the pillows and spread her legs, and Percy pushed me onto the bed before her, sitting on bent legs while he stroked me from behind. He guided my cock inside her, pushing me closer, my back bent, my ass lifted, supporting myself on my hands. Annabeth's eyes met mine and I saw she accepted me exactly as I am, knowing I wasn't doing this because of her, but sharing herself with me all the same. I needed that.

My mouth fell open as Percy breached me with his cock, my eyes falling shut as he filled me, driving me forward, Annabeth crying out as I rocked into her and him into me.

Afterwards, we fell asleep tangled together and I felt welcomed, loved.

I crawled out of bed in the early morning and later, life returned to normal. Only now, I had a new sense of self, of worth, though it wasn't sex that did it. It was just fitting in with my friends and living with them in their life, not feeling in the way, not feeling like a disturbance.

XxxX

Now it really is time for me to go. It would be too easy to fall in love. I look deep into Percy's eyes and see love there too. If I don't go now, I will disturb their life and I will break something precious.

"You'll be alright. I know you will," he says, his cocky smile full of self-assurance that I suspect is half-baked. "I never told you … I think you're brave and … and you have the biggest heart of anybody I've ever known, once you let people see it. Don't keep it hidden, 'kay?"

I blink to keep myself from crying and nod. I stand up and shoulder my backpack. "You take care of each other, yeah?"

He pulls a face as if to say, _you know we will_. "Oh. And I want to see you this winter at Camp, di Angelo. The reunion. You're not allowed to skip it this year."

I smirk at him. "See you around, Percy."

XxxX

...Percy POV...

I sit, my eyes going blurry with fatigue as I record the last report on my desk. I've let them pile up longer than usual and the nereids needing relocation will turn the nymphs against me if I keep them waiting. What I wouldn't do to find a solution to this climate change thing.

"Percy?"

"Hey, Wise-girl," I say, grinning as I turn off the desk lamp. "Nico took off, but I made him promise to be at the reunion this time." I swivel my chair, my smile falling. She's ghostly pale. "What's the matter?"

…

…

"I'm pregnant."


	14. Chapter 14

Wrestling Personal Demons - Jercy - College AU - Rated M

XxxX

I grapple with Grace on the mat, my mouthguard slipping, my mouth going juicy. I have his right shoulder pinned, straddling his left hip as he twists, my jockstrap stretching tight as he gets his knees up and spreads my legs wider than I'm used to, bracing himself and I know I'm in trouble. The pressure on my cock forces a groan out of me. I hope my face, already burning from exertion, hides the flush spreading down my neck to my chest. He twists again, snakelike, slipping out from under my hold, my palm striking the mat hard, and then the world tilts as I'm thrown onto my back. He holds me in place with his pelvis, his feet pinning my legs, his hands grinding my biceps. I'm so worked up I'm close to coming.

**Thweeeeeeet!** sounds the whistle and Hedge calls the match.

Grace grins down at me, a strand of saliva slipping from his mouth and hitting my cheek. He holds me in place a few seconds longer than necessary, and it could be my damn perverted brain, but I swear he grinds our groins deliberately before letting up.

"All right, cupcakes! On your feet and hit the showers!"

Grace gets to his feet as I rise on my elbows, my heart hammering, shame setting in. I'm off my game. He holds out a hand, surprising me and I grab it, pulling myself up. I shake my head and focus on keeping my feet level, covering my vertigo.

"Grace!" Hedge snaps. "You're good to go! Jackson, stay a sec."

Grace looks at me, his forehead creased. He raises an eyebrow.

I spit out my mouthguard and shoo him away. We're bros, but that doesn't mean I want him to see me get dressed down by the coach.

XxxX

I push the front door of Olympus University, my head pounding and my breath catches in my lungs as the freezing January air hits me. I hug myself, my bag slung over my shoulder and curse my memory for leaving my jacket in the locker room. My breath rises like smoke in the cold night as I stomp across the snow-laden grounds, crunching through trails of footprints crisscrossing my path. My teeth chatter.

"Hey, Jackson!"

I turn, spotting Grace as he steps out from behind the statue of Zeus several yards from me at the center point of campus. I remember sharing a laugh with him when he said he thought the school was tempting fate, naming itself Olympus. _Same as the guy who built the Titanic_.

"Too cold!" I call back and then I catch sight of his hand. "Don't you throw that snowba– goddamnit!" It strikes my shoulder and breaks apart, bits of it sliding down my shirt.

Grace doubles over with laughter. Normally, this would be war, and I'd arm myself and show him up, but after 15 minutes of coach shouting in my ear and then forgetting my jacket after losing to him on the mat, I'm just done.

I turn and lengthen my strides, reaching the dorms before Grace realizes he fucked up.

I yank the dorm building door open and race up the back stairs instead of taking the elevator, warming up as I work my legs, and my beef with Grace has my nerves thrumming with frustration.

I make it back to my room, drop my bag and lock the bathroom door on my side. Grace is in the next room over and we share the toilet between us. That finished, I strip to my briefs and crawl into bed, pulling my laptop up and fixing my headphones in place. He can't get in now, and I can't hear him, so I figure I'm finally safe.

I pull my laptop close, hating myself as I visit his Instagram and start scrolling. There it is, the picture of us I can't get out of my head. Jason's muscular ass, flexing through his purple singlet, hugging me in the tightest bear hug possible. I slip my hand inside my briefs and start stroking. I'm smiling in the photo, my face smooshed beside his neck, and I recall how it felt to be so close, the manly smells, the taste of his sweat on my lips.

I spread my knees a little wider, thrusting through the ring I make with my fist, my breath catching, pressure building, picturing his ass without the singlet, framed by his jockstrap, bent over to fetch a towel from the floor. I come with a cry, soaking my underwear with my spunk, and working my cock as I ride the aftershocks, pretending it's his hand and not my own.

One of these days he's gonna notice something's off with me. One of these days, he'll refuse to partner me on the mat. One of these days … Well. At least it's not today.

XxxX

**Crash! Crash! Boom!**

"Jackson!"

_Oh great. Just what I fucking need,_ I think to myself as the pile of folding chairs spills across the floor of the gym.

"Man," I whine. "Why does this shit keep happening to me?"

"Pick them up," Hedge grumbles through his megaphone. I mean, seriously. Why does he always use that damn thing?

All I did was walk into the room, and, okay, maybe I caught sight of Grace doing about a hundred pushups and I took a step back to admire the view, but why do they have to stack the chairs in here anyway?

I sling my bag off my shoulders, my mouth going dry and toss it to the side, away from anything else that could possibly get knocked over, and start picking up chairs.

"That's a wrap!" Hedge calls and I look up as Jason flops to the floor, then rolls on his back, his chest heaving. "I'm gonna go and grab a bite at the food carts and when I get back I want this gym in ship shape."

Grace sits up and grins at me, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his arm. "I'll stay and help, Coach," he says, and I realize I've stopped working and have been staring at him for gods knows how long. I turn around and get back to work, forcing myself to focus and get a fucking grip. The sound the chairs make as I stack them back against the wall reminds me of the sound the ocean makes when the wind howls and the waves are choppy.

I'm about a quarter of the way through the pile when I catch Grace's shoes coming toward me from the corner of my eye.

I take a deep breath and release it, collecting myself, and then looking up at him. "Hey, man. Thanks for staying after and offering to help. I think I can manage it though if you want to jet."

His brows furrow as he looks at me, lips turned down, like he's trying to work something out in his head. I'm so screwed. I just pretend I don't notice, that nothing's weird and keep stacking chairs.

"I think I'm starting to figure you out," he says and I shrug, affecting indifference.

"Yeah?" I ask, my heart thundering in my ears as I keep stacking chairs. I can't risk looking at him. I need to finish cleaning up and get the hell away. I can't even remember why I came in here in the first place. He touches my shoulder and I spin around, shooting daggers at his stupid blue eyes. "What?" I snap.

"Percy." His voice is soft, unsettling. "Can you stop for a minute. Just talk to me. We're bros and I fucked up hitting you with that snowball last night. I'm sorry."

I blink. It takes me a minute to remember the snowball. "Oh." I relax. If he's just apologizing for that, then that's fine. I shake myself, rolling my shoulders to loosen them. "We're cool, man. Don't even worry about that."

He frowns, then jerks his head toward the locker room. "Come with?"

I shrug and follow him. Hedge takes two hour lunches. I can spare a few minutes.

He flips on the light in the locker room and I step in behind him, stopping short when he turns around and has me backed against the wall, not physically, but with his eyes, his stature.

"Look, I've seen the way you look at me when you think I don't notice, and …"

My ears stop working as I gape at him, staring, but not even seeing, like my brain just got flushed down my spine to my stomach. Sparks flash in my vision until it tunnels.

And then I'm sitting on the bench, his arm around my waist, blinking sight back to my eyes. Everything sounds really loud now, like the volume is turned way up on a stereo system.

"Wh– what was that?" I ask.

I sit up straight, getting my head back and look at him, confused.

He doesn't move his arm from my waist, just rakes his bangs back. "I suck at this," he says, still not making any sense. "I didn't think you were gonna …"

"What are you talking about? What are you trying to say?" I'm not used to seeing him so unsettled.

"Every time I try to do it with words, I mess it up," he says, and I'm about ready to snap back some smartass comment when his lips meet mine.

I freeze, not kissing back and he stops too, not pushing, but not moving away. There's no way I can misread what he's trying to say. _He likes me too._ We sit like that, paused like a video screen as my mind catches up with my body, and then I smile against his lips.

He breathes out through his nose, still not moving away, an unmistakable sigh of relief. He licks my teeth with the tip of his tongue and I relax again, meeting him and falling into the pace he sets.

I don't even know how much later it is when I lift my head from his chest, my hair wet with sweat, our bodies slick with it. I meet his eyes, feeling drunk, spent and he grins at me, then smacks my ass.

"Only took me two years to speak up. We've got lost time to make up for."

I roll my eyes, my response on my tongue when the gym door slams, followed by the sound of a megaphone switching on.

"Jackson!"

"Ugh. Can I just quit the team?" I ask as we scramble to our feet and back into our clothes.

"No way, bitch. If you quit, I'll quit and he'll follow us all over the school with that goddamn megaphone until we agree to come back."

We just manage to pick up the mat and rest it against the wall when Hedge barges in and ...

**Thweeeeeeet!**


	15. Chapter 15

Percy's Detour in the Labyrinth - Percy/Ethan - Rated T

XxxX

**Author Notes:** Apollo, god of music, of medicine, and divine ruler of the muses has informed me that he discovered this missing scene from The Battle of the Labyrinth while listening to Uncle Rick's dream broadcast. He feels it is a pity that it wasn't shared with those who may appreciate it. And so I wrote it down exactly as it was told to me. - Mab

XxxX

The sound of a soft footfall woke me. I had Riptide uncapped and drawn in an instant. I stood, looking up the Labyrinth tunnel, then at Rachel curled on her side, breathing soft and regularly. Annabeth rested her head on her knees, her back to the wall, also asleep. I didn't want to wake them unless I had to; they needed rest as much as I did.

I made my way as silently as possible back up the tunnel by the light of my sword. I didn't dare step far from sight of my friends, not with the Labyrinth's habit of altering itself without notice. At the curve of the tunnel, a pale face shone in Riptide's low light. It was Ethan Nakamura.

We studied each other from a yard's length, neither daring to speak first, to show weakness. I saw a trace of feeling alight in his visible eye, a sort of grudging respect.

He made the first move, holding his hands up with his palms facing me, showing me he was not here to fight. I lowered my sword, but didn't cap it, not only because it was the only light source I had on hand. Then he gestured for me to come closer.

I turned back to make sure the girls were still sleeping and out of harm's way, and then followed him just around the curve of the tunnel.

"Percy Jackson," he murmured. His voice was soft and unthreatening.

"Did you change your mind about coming with us?" I asked. I couldn't help but hold onto the hope that he had, if only to prevent another demigod from joining Luke's army. I took another step closer until we were only a foot apart.

He considered me, his eye flicking between mine, as if to measure my sincerity, and then dropped his gaze.

My eyes followed his, checking that his hands were still free from weapons; they were. Then our eyes met again. The air seemed to grow heavier all of a sudden or maybe it was all in my head.

"How do I know I can trust you, Percy Jackson? For all I know, you will lead me back to camp and hand me over to Chiron and he will keep me on dish duty, a prisoner under the watch of the cleaning harpies."

"You can trust me. I'll give you my word." He raised his eyebrows, his eye-patch lifting a fraction along with them. A flash from an old pirate musical I had watched with my mom once flashed through my mind and I fought the smile forming on my lips. Instead, I cast about for another way to convince him I was trustworthy. "How can I prove it to you?"

He grabbed my hand in the dark and I thought he intended that we make a pact. We did, though not in any way I would have guessed. I waited for him to let go, reminding myself I defeated him at combat once already; he didn't scare me. We didn't break eye contact and I allowed him to guide my hand, finally stepping even closer to him as if to hear him whisper in my ear. And then I felt something hard in the pocket of his pants. Was he trying to tell me a secret without words?

I gripped the object and squeezed, my face flooding with heat when his eye rolled up, his eyelid closing, and his breath huffed warmly on my face. I realized what he wanted too late. If I pulled back now, he'd run off and join Luke. He'd accuse me of judging him or lying about wanting him to come with us. Worse still, my body seemed to have a mind of its own, apart from my consciousness as my pants became tight and I didn't stop moving my hand.

I told myself it wouldn't hurt to just do this and get it over with, then he'd come back with us and we'd never tell a living soul. It was a pact, I thought, a bro pact, something the girls wouldn't understand and when he slipped his hand into my jeans, the other pulling my fly open – and I did the same to him, setting Riptide on the floor at our feet, lighting us in a personal glow – I felt like we were speaking the same language, that we had arrived at an agreement. The rest, well, it felt really good and as we are taught in camp, you repay favors with sacrifices.

He twisted his hand just right and I dropped my head, resting my forehead on his shoulder, watching it happen, torn between wanting it to end and to stay in this moment forever. He moved his free hand to my butt, pulling me closer until our hands joined in the middle and the last moments were a team effort. I bucked against him, my soul felt ready to leave my body as his breaths came more erratic and the smell of secrets rose between us. I raked my free hand down his back, grabbing his butt, too, pulling us harder together and he did the same. I nearly blacked out when he dug in tight with his fingers and my pleasure crested along with his. We made our mutual tribute, the payment coating our hands.

Afterwards we were quiet. We fixed our clothing and stood side by side, our backs to the wall, catching our breaths.

"Thank you, Percy," he said, and nodded at me, pushing off the wall as if he were about to take his leave.

"Wait. I thought you were coming with us. We could use a fighter like you, and uh … your skills." My face blazed as I spoke and I couldn't understand why.

He smirked and stepped in front of me, leaning in until our faces almost touched. I held my breath, staring into his eye and trying to tell him without words that I meant what I said.

He brushed our noses together and whispered: "Boo."

I blinked, not understanding, and in the next moment he was gone like a ghost.

I retrieved my sword and made my way back to where Annabeth and Rachel still slept. I resolved not to fall asleep again myself and to never break the pact and speak of what happened just in case, one day, it would make a difference.

As far as not falling asleep again, I failed.


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Notes:**I'm counting on my readers' knowledge of canon to fill in the gaps in the story. I didn't have time to rework it all from Will's POV. - though that would be freaking awesome-

**Canon Quote:** Hermes stared at the fountain. "I'll give you a list of my children. There's a boy in Wisconsin. Two girls in Los Angeles. A few others. Will you see that they get to camp?" - and my head canon says the boy from Wisconsin is Cecil!

Talk Italian to Me - Solangelo - Rated: T

XxxX

Will woke up as the sun shone in through the window and blinked the sleep from his eyes. Last night had been hard. He'd actually got up the nerve to talk to Nico, even sat next him at the campfire, and afterwards, he and Nico took a walk around the canoe lake, stargazing and talking about how different Camp Half-Blood would be once the Olympians made good on their promise to Percy.

When Will had brought up Percy Jackson, how much he admired him and how surprised he had been when Percy refused the offer of godhood, Nico gave him a rare smile, and then looked out wistfully across the lake. "Yeah. He's something all right."

The statement had settled in Will's stomach like indigestion. He still wasn't sure why, though now that Hades had a cabin, he hoped he'd have a chance to figure Nico out. He'd said goodnight after Nico had walked him back to Cabin Seven. He'd patted Nico's arm and thanked him for doing the burial rites on the fallen heroes, but especially Michael. The simple touch sent a shiver running up his arm and throughout his body until the sensation settled in his stomach and transformed into a warm glow that lit up his smile. He wasn't sure what it was that passed over Nico's eyes at the touch, but he hoped it might have been the start to a new friendship.

"You'll do well as head counselor," Nico told him. "You've got what it takes to lead." And then he'd left.

Will wasn't an idiot. He knew what was happening to him in regards to Nico. He recalled seeing Nico in New York, striding up Fifth Avenue, leading an army of the dead, a Hell Hound at his heels and his father, the god of the dead himself bringing up the rear. Will was crushing hard. As he watched Nico disappear into the dark, he'd thought that he wasn't worthy of Nico's notice; he'd never led a quest. He was a healer, a medic, back-up.

Pulling himself from his musings, he watched his siblings starting to stir. They'd look to him now that Michael was gone, and that idea was going to take some getting used to.

XxxX

"What do you mean he's gone?" Will asked, trying to keep the hurt from showing in his voice.

Chiron passed him a basket of freshly laundered bandages, and then turned to look at him, leaving off taking an inventory of the infirmary stock. "He has never officially signed on as a camper. I had hoped that the addition of a cabin for his father would change that, but even Dionysus insists that the choice must be one he makes for himself. Mr. Di Angelo is a troubled young man, in many ways." He stopped and stroked his beard. "But I hold onto the hope that he will find his way in his own time."

Will's eyes prickled and he turned away from Chiron as he folded the bandages, not wanting to share his grief with his mentor, at least, not until he understood it better. He could play it off, if anyone asked, as being related to Michael's death; they'd understand that. Apollo wasn't the only cabin to suffer casualties. He swallowed the bitter taste of guilt in his mouth for feeling worse about Nico leaving camp than for losing his brother. It seemed _he_ was a little troubled too.

"Chiron," Percy called from the doorway. Will looked up and Percy spotted him. "Solace!" He strode into the room and Will turned to face him, surprised when Percy held out his hand to shake. Will clasped Percy's hand, and then Percy pulled him forward and embraced him warmly. Will was more than a little star struck, but he smacked Percy's back as Percy did the same. "Thanks so much for saving Annabeth, man. I owe you big time," Percy said, his voice thick with emotion.

When Will pulled away after Percy seemed to get himself back under control, he smiled. "You're welcome."

"Was there something you wanted from me?" Chiron asked, reminding them of his presence.

Percy's eyes lit up, and then he looked Will up and down as if appraising him. "Yeah. I got a message from Hermes, the list of all his kids still out in the world. There were more than the few he'd mentioned on Olympus, but I figured we'd start with the only closest to thirteen. You know …" He looked at Will again, his eyes sincere. "If Will's up for it, he'd be my first choice to help organize the satyrs and bring the new kids to camp."

Chiron turned to Will, his head tilted as if waiting for him to accept the nomination or not.

And Will found himself with more than enough work to keep from dwelling on his losses and, he hoped, to get a grip on his emotions.

XxxX

Will and Glenn, a newly appointed searcher found Cecil almost the moment they arrived in Janesville, Wisconsin. Will stepped off the bus and before he had a chance to even look around, a running blur of color smacked into him, throwing him backwards on top of Glenn, knocking the wind from his lungs, and leaving them sprawled on the steps of the bus. He grabbed the boy lying on top of him and held him fast, wheezing as he regained his breath while the boy struggled to free himself.

"Sorry, sorry, I – I swear it was an accident. I gotta go, please. Quick. They're after me."

"Wait a second," Glenn said, giving Will a push as the driver barked at them to either get off the bus or get back on. "Will. It's him; he's the one."

Will kept his grip on the boy as he got to his feet and Glenn paid the driver their additional fare. "It's okay," Will said, trying to sound soothing. "We're here to help." He released him when the boy nodded, and they climbed the stairs as the door closed behind them.

As the bus pulled away from the curb, Will saw two police officers running past on the sidewalk as if in pursuit of a criminal and the boy dropped face down on the aisle floor. Thankfully, they were the only passengers.

Will took the seat opposite Glenn, and they exchanged a look across the aisle as if to say: _What sort of trouble are we bringing back to camp?_

"Is it safe?" the boy asked, looking up at Will. He was short and lean with sharp almost elfish features. His wild brown hair stuck up in a tuft at the back and he had brown eyes that seemed too big for his face. He made Will think of Peter Pan.

"Yeah," Will said and patted the seat next to him. The boy jumped off the floor and into the seat as if he was one big spring. "I'm Will Solace." He pointed at Glenn. "That's Glenn. What's your name?"

"Cecil," the boy answered simply. "How far does this bus go?"

XxxX

Cecil, it turned out, had the cops set on him by his 'foster parents', who, by Cecil's description, Will guessed were a pair of monsters adapting to modern life, blending in with the system and feeding off the charges dumped in their lap. He'd heard similar tales often enough.

On their trek up Half-Blood Hill, Cecil stopped short after Will told him a little about himself. Will stopped too and looked back at him.

"No way," Cecil said, his lips turning up on one side. "There is no way you're only twelve. That's how old I am. Dude, what do they feed you at this camp?" He slumped to exaggerate their height difference and Will couldn't help but laugh.

Glenn danced nervously on his fake feet, gesturing for them to keep going. "Come on. We're almost to the border. You can talk all you want after we cross it."

Will snapped back to serious mode in an instant, recalling the numerous monster attacks that seemed to happen the closer to safety a demigod got. "He's right. We can talk more when we get there."

They climbed the rest of the hill without incident and without speaking. It's true that being a demigod ages a person faster than just about anything else, and after three and half years as a year-round camper, Will had trouble believing he was only twelve too.

XxxX

Will fell into his roles as lead camper in the Apollo cabin, the senior healer after Chiron, and the guy who tried to make new campers feel welcome. He tried to buddy people up and helped the quiet ones find a niche so they wouldn't run off thinking nobody liked them. Nico di Angelo was his greatest what-if and never far from his mind.

Lou Ellen had been claimed by her mother while Will was off with Glenn to bring Cecil to camp, and it only took a couple of weeks before the three were seldom seen apart. Cecil and Lou Ellen wrested the whole story about Will's infatuation with the mysterious son of Hades out of him and offered an ear whenever he needed to talk about it. His dreams of late provided a lot to talk about.

He'd never had prophetic dreams before, but Nico had been appearing in his nightmares with alarming frequency after Jason, Piper, and Leo returned from their quest to free Hera.

\- Nico stepped from the shadows of a black poplar, the sky a purple haze, the air sulfurus. He stood stock still and looked out over what appeared to be a quarry of tall stones, though it was hard to see clearly through the tendrils of mist clinging to them. He turned back and started to walk, silently picking his way between the rocks, stopping every so often to peer at individual ones … and they seemed to peer back. They weren't rocks, they were souls, and the land he crossed was Asphodel.

The atmosphere changed the deeper in he walked, the mist thicker, lower to the ground and heavy with dread. It brought with it visions of blood coagulating, slogging in open wounds, pooling into pure despair and a force beckoned, pulling Nico toward it. It held a magnetism of malignancy too powerful to resist. His shoes skidded, losing traction as a chasm of inky blackness appeared and sucked him into its depths. He fell sightless, his mouth open in a silent scream. -

Will dragged in a breath, his throat searing as if he'd swallowed fire, tasting metal on his tongue. He drew his knees up to his chest, hugging them, and praying to Apollo, to Hades, to Hecate, and even to Hermes that it was only a nightmare as tears tracked his cheeks.

XxxX

Will hadn't seen Nico di Angelo in person in almost two years, but even in the dark, even from behind, even though he was dressed in a tropical shirt, he knew him. He gestured for Lou Ellen and Cecil to stay quiet, then looked out over the Roman camp, following the path of Nico's eyes, and then stepped forward. "Nico?"

XxxX

He was bone tired a couple of days after the war. So tired that the hours of sleep he managed didn't help much, but something drew him from his precious few hours free from the infirmary, the sun perhaps? After working long into the night it sucked to be an Apollo camper at daybreak in the summer months. He threw his blankets off himself and pulled on a pair of jeans, a clean surgeon's shirt and slipped into his flip flops.

He sighed as he shuffled to the bathroom, memories cropping up that he didn't want to revisit. He'd longed for Nico di Angelo to come back, and then when he had, he'd been on the brink of fading, more far gone Will suspects than Nico realized. When Will had asked Hedge about Nico after Melli's delivery, the look Hedge gave him told him that he didn't have any time to waste. If he was going to convince Nico to stay at camp, to try and befriend him, he had to be clever about it. That was why he had weaseled his way onto the battlefield. It wasn't nerves from delivering a baby or even the fear of endangering his own life. The weight of his feelings terrified him and made him wonder how real they were and how much they may have been embellished by his own fantasy.

The connection he'd felt after the battle of Manhattan had been real and Nico wasn't the sort that took walks and looked at the stars with just anybody. Will would have been thrilled to just have had that much, but when Nico insisted on walking him back to his cabin … that had felt a lot like a date. Sure, they had only been twelve years old, but with the fate of the world riding on their shoulders, their lives fragile and so often cut short … Nico must have realized, must have sensed …

"Stupid," he said to his reflection, holding himself up with his hands on the sink. "You're so stupid, Will."

He knew he wasn't off the mark as far as Nico's preference for guys, but the way his eyes had lit up at the mention of Percy Jackson. That was where his heart had been two years ago when they had walked together. He recalled the other night, coming across Nico on the battlefield, the darkness he'd sensed in him, the despair. Nico had been ready to go kamikaze on the Romans and probably would have if Will hadn't spoken up. Percy Jackson. Will understood the attraction. If he had a chance in Hades with Percy and Nico wasn't an option, he'd totally go for it, but Percy was so taken with Annabeth, he'd be a fool to even think it. Nico was nowhere close to a fool either, and it broke Will's heart to think that a hopeless crush could drive Nico into not valuing his life.

He'd flirted with Nico as they planned to sabotage the onagers, testing the waters a little at first and had thought he'd picked right back up on the thread from so long ago. Nico hadn't told him off. He'd grumbled about accepting Will's help, but he _had_ accepted it, and then he'd dropped the bomb that he wasn't staying. He'd already made up his mind. Even so … even after the last thing they did together was watch Octavian launch himself into oblivion … Will wondered if there might be a glimmer of a chance to convince Nico otherwise.

Nico and the Roman praetor had hugged before the whole camp, a symbol of unity, Nico representing the Greeks, representing Camp Half-Blood. Nico didn't need to make it official, he belonged at camp. Will looked his reflection in the eye again. "If you would go for it if there was a chance with Percy Jackson, with no Nico in the picture, then why wouldn't you go for it when there's Nico and no chance with Percy. Nico wins out both ways, but you have to stop being cowardly and tell him you want him to stay."

Determined, Will headed out to the porch of his cabin and spotted Nico across the green wrapped up in Jason Grace's arms. Another impossible dream. He set his face with a stern expression, not willing to shy away from his feelings again and waved until Nico noticed him. And then he pointed at the ground and sent the message. You. Here. Now.

XxxX

After a year, Will thought he reached his breaking point. He was so far gone for Nico di Angelo, it killed him to have to keep it inside.

They grew close after he had called Nico out and forced him to spend time in the infirmary, but Nico made it clear, not in regards to Will specifically, but in general that he wasn't interested in dating flat out. Will pushed Nico when he knew Nico needed a push, but the reaction Nico had had when Will had brought up the subject of love interests let him know that the subject was taboo and pushing the issue would drive Nico away.

Instead, he went out of his way to not mention it, and he and Nico ended up in a sort of not-relationship. They acted pretty much like any other couple, only without labels and without physical intimacy. Lou Ellen and Cecil had started a bet between themselves as to when Will and Nico would finally announce they were dating until Will told them to knock it off.

He'd thought he'd be fine with things going as they were until a couple of months before camp started its summer session and Nico started teasing him in Italian. The sound of Nico's native tongue melted Will into a pile of mush every single time, and Nico laughed and refused to translate what he said, like he got off on Will's suffering. No. That wasn't true, because Will begged him to do it again and again and Nico was only obliging him.

They sat next to each other on the edge of the dock on an April evening, dangling their legs and watching the sunset and Will told himself this would be the last time he'd ask. He'd requested a private quest from Chiron that would take him away for several months and hopefully help him gain some clarity.

"Talk Italian to me," Will said, setting his hand on top of Nico's on the deck, one of the touches Nico never seemed to mind.

Nico looked at him sideways, shrewdly, one dark eyebrow raised. "Why?"

Will gave his best impression of puppy dog eyes and pouted his lower lip. "Because I like it. It's a beautiful language. Oh c'mon …" He nudged Nico with his elbow. "You know you want to. You love to tease me with the fact I don't understand. Go ahead and tell me I smell like one of Butch Walker's gym socks. I bet even that would sound beautiful in Italian."

Nico chuckled. "Hai un profumo fantastico."

Will turned his head to the side. "Fantastico?" He met Nico's eyes. "You think Butch's socks smell fantastic?"

Nico didn't answer that question. He didn't break the eye contact either. "Mi fai venire voglia di essere una persona migliore."

Will closed his eyes and smiled, letting the soft words caress his eardrums. He leaned closer, tilting his head as if being closer would allow him to hear better. "More?" He heard Nico sigh and opened his eyes again. "You don't have to if you don't …"

"Non te lo direi mai se riuscissi a capirmi, ma mi fai venir voglia di cantare. Adoro i tuoi capelli e come brillano al sole, e se fossi una persona migliore ti direi che ti amo."

Will thought his soul might leave his body. All he wanted to do was to lean in the last couple of inches and press their lips together. He didn't. Instead, he squeezed Nico's hand. Would this be the last time they ever sat together like this? He looked out at the lake, suddenly sad.

"Why did you request a quest, Will and not tell me about it?"

Will's eyes grew wide. The question threw him off course. "How did you …"

"I can blend in with the shadows and I knew something was bothering you."

"You spied on me." Will blew out his breath, his sails flattened.

Nico nodded. He didn't say anything else, didn't make any motion to leave. He just sat there, waiting.

The words were on the tip of Will's tongue, so beyond ready to come out and yet frozen by fear. He thought back over all the good times they'd had and a few of the bad. Nico hadn't had a real freakout in a very long time, and Will would be leaving himself. He didn't have much to lose and he had faith Nico wouldn't fall off the face of the Earth if he heard the truth, not like before.

He took another deep breath and let it out, then looked Nico in the eyes again. "I think I'm in love with you and I'm terrified you'll leave if I tell you."

Saying the words made Will feel like he just dropped about a hundred pounds he hadn't realized he'd been carrying. And Nico wasn't freaking out. He wasn't even acting all that surprised. "Non fare lo scemo. Sono pazzo di te," he said instead and closed the distance between them, brushing Will's lips with his.

Will held onto the back of Nico's head with one hand, his mind threatening to give out. He broke the kiss, barely, still close enough to pick it right back up and whispered: "What does that mean?"

"Don't be an idiot. I'm mad about you," Nico answered, and faster than a snake, slipped out of Will's grip, flipping their positions, and pushed him onto his back on the deck, then slotted himself on top and kissed him within an inch of his life.

When they broke apart, they rolled onto their sides facing each other. "I'm coming along … on the quest …" Nico said. "If you'll have me. I already volunteered and got Chiron's okay."

Will smirked and made a show of thinking about whether that would be acceptable or not. "I suppose you could come along, but you have to agree to talk to me in Italian at least once a day … and …" He continued over Nico's attempt at interrupting. "… and you have to translate what you say."

Nico smiled, showing his teeth. "Is that right?" He held up a hand and started ticking off his fingers. "I said you smell fantastic. That you make me want to be a better person. You make me want to sing. I love the way your hair glows in the sun and …" He swallowed, then kept going, "and that I love you."

Will Solace had no response to give. He melted into a puddle of mush and Nico took full advantage of his silence.

**End Notes:** Thanks to Littlepai for the Italian translations.


	17. Chapter 17

Having it All - percabeth - Rated T

XxxX

**Clash**

"Gods it feels good …" **Thwack** "… to be back at it …" **Clang** "…again!" Annabeth says between sword strokes as Clarisse puts her through her paces.

"Heh …" **Thwack** "… Tell me about it." **Slap … Smack … Whoosh**

Annabeth's sword flies from her hand and Clarisse levels the point of her blade at Annabeth's chest. "Aha! You've got a way to go before you're back up to par, wise-girl."

Annabeth laughs, breathing deep, still smiling. She holds her hands up in surrender and Clarisse lowers her sword.

"How long did it take you to get back on your game?"

Clarisse glares, her lips set in a frown. Annabeth is about ready to take the question back before realizing Clarisse was only thinking over her response.

"About four months, but I had to go under the knife so don't even think you're ahead of my curve on that."

Annabeth grins and follows Clarisse out of the field of Mars.

The sound of a baby crying up the street a ways makes Annabeth wince and cross her arms over her chest. Next to the Fifth Cohort barracks, Chris Rodriguez waits for them, a squalling toddler on his hip.

Clarisse harrumphs as she exchanges her sword for her child, then turns back to Annabeth, and laughs at her plight. "Yeah. The let down reflex is murder for the first six months or so, then it eases up."

"Great. Thanks a lot. See you Thursday, then."

Chris and Clarisse wave goodbye and Annabeth walks quickly back to the road leading into New Rome. She'd jog, but suspects that will only make the pain in her breasts worse. Still, after being cooped up with a baby glued to her boobs for two months straight, she's been itching to get back into active form again. The time away will give Percy a chance to bond with his daughter too. As much as she trusts him with her own life, the idea of Percy Jackson as a father, left alone with their infant for the first time makes her nerves stand on end.

She switches her practice blade from her right hand to her left and drops in at the armory to lock it up. Adjusting to life in New Rome hasn't been easy, but after talking it over, she and Percy had decided it was the safest place to raise a child, at least until she was old enough to learn self-defense.

Terminus nods her across the Pomerian line after giving her a mental pat down and her heart races as she gets closer to the cottage they rent from the estate of a legacy of Baccus.

"I'm home," she calls as she opens the front door. "Percy?"

She's met with utter silence. Her heart races as she rushes through the small house, opening each door and checking all the rooms. When it's clear the house is empty, she grabs the sides of her head and commands herself not to panic.

It's impossible Percy would go too far, not with Zoe needing to nurse. She glances at the clock atop the fireplace mantle. She's been away over two hours, her boobs feel ready to explode, and Percy didn't even leave a note.

He's got to be back soon, she tells herself, and realizing she's pacing, forces herself to sit on the couch and wait. The ticking of the clock seems to bounce off the walls and makes waiting ten times worse.

_I swear to the gods, if I find him and he's off being stupid, I'll never leave him alone with Zoe again._ She stands up and pulls the front door open, forcing herself not to run, affecting a calm she doesn't feel.

She follows the paths of the estate's garden until she spots the swimming pool, and then she runs, her heart thudding. _He wouldn't …_ She reaches the iron fence surrounding the pool and scans the water, spotting a flash of tan skin and blue swimming trunks at the bottom of the deep end. _Oh yes, HE would. How could she have been dumb enough to have let him …_

"Percy, you idiot!"

He turns and pushes up from the bottom, rising until his waist is clear of the water, Zoe asleep in his arms ... "Hey! I got her to sleep! She loves the water!"

"Have you lost your damn mind!?" Annabeth cries. "She's two months old! And, gods damnit, you had her at the bottom of the pool!"

Percy wrinkles his forehead and rises up on a wave, then steps onto the pavement entirely dry. Zoe stirs and starts rooting against his chest. "Uh-huh, I think you're swimming up the wrong current, little Miss. You won't find any milk from those titties." He passes the baby to Annabeth and slips his arm around her back, his hand gripping her waist. Her face colors, but she holds her tongue about his choice of words. Just having Zoe back in her arms brings her heart rate back down. "Sorry I freaked out," she says. "She looks happy. I think you did alright."

He hums under his breath, sidestepping any mention of her shouting fit. Instead, he rubs his nose against her sweaty cheek, making her smile. "Did you have a good workout?"

"Yeah. It was great …" She stops as Percy is being weird again and sniffing her face. "Percy? Can you wait until we get inside? I want to shower and relax." Zoe squirms in her arms and she tugs her shirt up and latches her on, focusing on balance with Percy still nuzzling her.

"Can't help it. You smell like a hero and I can't get enough."

She elbows him in the stomach and he backs off, clutching his gut, but still grinning, and Annabeth doesn't even try to cover her blush. Not when she's got all she ever wanted.


	18. Chapter 18

A Helping Hand – Will Solace/Jake Mason –Rated M

**Author's Note:** I'm aging Will up in this fic, though, as canon is squiffy on his age anyway, I still feel it falls under canon compliance. It takes place in The Lost Hero canon, right after Will gives Leo a tour of camp.

XxxX

After dropping Leo off at the forges, Will returns to the Hephaestus cabin. He knocks. "Jake, it's Will again." The camouflage curtain lifts. Will approaches and Jake hits the button to lower it after Will steps past. "How's your pain today?"

Jake scoffs, but Will gets the sense he's trying not to show how much it hurts.  
"Can I touch your face?" He tries to keep his voice calm and steady.

Jake looks at him warily, but sighs. "Yeah, okay."

Will places his palm on Jake's forehead. There's more pain than he's expecting, a deep emotional pain he recognizes as grief, the standard amount he'd expect from Jake's burns and fractures, but under it all, another pain Will is all too familiar with ... Self reproach, loneliness, and a soul deep ache. He lifts his hand, swallowing hard, tears springing to his eyes against his will.

"What is it?" Jake sounds concerned about him, like he's pushing his own torment to the side because he sees Will is upset.

"I didn't realize ..." He stops. Jake hasn't told him about these deeper issues. He's not sure bringing them up will be good for him in this state, unable to even leave his bed and tinker to distract himself. "Nothing ... Do you need to use the —" He makes a hand gesture toward Jake's hips and motions to the bedpan sitting on a table off to the side.

Jake cracks a smile. "You can say it, Solace. Do I need help taking a dump?"

Will's face flushes. He's supposed to be a healer, supposed to not be embarrassed by bodily functions. He's not, normally, but he'd be lying if he said he hadn't had a dream or three about Jake Mason and his big strong hands, his unruly brown hair, his tan skin, and ... what his dick might look like.

"Yeah, that? Can I help with that or anything else before I go?"

"You know what, Solace? Maybe you could. Chiron already took care of the defecation duty. How old are you? Bout 16, 17?"

Will nods. "Same as you, I think."

Jake cracks another smile, his cheeks pink. "Look, man ... I totally wouldn't ask if I thought it'd spook you ..." He breathes out. "But I'm suffering."

Will wrinkles his forehead. "Yes. I felt it ... When I touched your head," he clarifies.

Jake looks mildly impressed. "If it does, uh, make you too uncomfortable, just say so. I'm serious about not wanting to push you too far."

Will nods again. "Sure. Tell me how I can help and I'll tell you if it's something I can't do."

Jake grumbles, trying to shift in the bed. "Look under my sheet. Bottom of the cast."

Will's heart speeds up. He tells himself Jake probably just has some skin irritation and needs a balm or a healing song applied to his skin. He pulls back the sheet. And Jake is fully erect and straining, his cock thick with beautiful blue veins and a glistening purple head peeking from a freaking perfect foreskin.

"It's been ages, man. I just need to come."

Will licks his lips. He meets Jake's pleading eyes. "A hand job?" he asks, wanting to clarify before he tries to swallow Jake down and get himself in a huge amount of trouble.

Jake nods. "Yeah, anything really. Even if it's just you using a sock or something to rub against me. I'm so damn desperate."

"I can help you. I won't say a word to anybody."

Jake thanks him.

Will slicks his palm with saliva, and wraps it around Jake's cock. He strokes.

"Oh, oh yeah," Jake moans, ineffectually trying to lift his hips.

Will squeezes his fist a little tighter and jerks down more, mimicking the motion Jake was probably going for. He watches Jake's cockhead slip in and out of the foreskin, then licks his other palm to add more lubrication and switches hands.

Jake, instead of closing his eyes, watches Will getting him off. Will feels his stare and looks up, still jerking.

"You're gorgeous," Jake grunts. You know that, Solace? Probably get that from your dad but ..." He groans again and bubbles of precome gather at his tip. Will brushes them with his thumb, adding to the lubrication. Jake continues. "But more than that, you've got this inner beauty. It really shines through. I've thought of you before ..." He grunts again. "Doing this ... Only when I wasn't laid up and I could pleasure you at the same time."

Will thinks his face has to be glowing. He's so hot, his pants tight. And he brushes his thumb over Jake's slit a few more times, adding a twist to his hand motions. And then Jake moans loud and long, shooting hot white spunk all over the back of Will's hand, his breathing ragged.

"Oh Hades ..." Jake exclaims, tears in his eyes, and a smile on his face. He looks like _he's_ the one shining with an inner glow to Will. "Thank you, Will. Ahhhh, that was so good."

Will releases Jake's cock after milking the last drops from it, and then spots the washcloth and basin for sponge bathing. He wets the rag and cleans Jake up. Professionally, he hopes.

"You're welcome, Jake. If you need my assistance again, I'll come."

"That a promise?"

Will pauses, thinking over his choice of words. He blushes hotly when he realizes how it sounded. "Ummm ... You want it to be?"

Jake nods as much as he's able, sort of dipping his chin. "Yeah. Maybe next time you could rub us together. I'll probably dream about that tonight."

"Okay," Will says, his voice squeaking. "I've gotta go now. But, I promise."

Jake winks at him as Will pulls the sheet back into place. "Can I get a kiss for pleasant dreams?"

Will rolls his eyes. It's a misconception some Apollo camper started encouraging ages ago that healer children of Apollo could grant wishes with kisses, but Jake doesn't seem the superstitious type, and Will decides it must be his style of flirting. He smiles. "Sure, big guy." He hums a small tune to his father, and presses their lips together. When he pulls back, Jake's eyes are closed. He's smiling, and breathing evenly, fast asleep.

Maybe there was a kernel of truth to the old story after all. But now, he thinks, pushing the camouflage curtain aside ... Now he needs to find a bathroom and relieve his own aching balls. Maybe he'll use the thoughts of _next time_ to get there.


	19. Chapter 19

Blessings of the Sea God – Percabeth Rated: T

XxxX

"Percy, seriously, come on. We're getting soaked."

Annabeth grabs my hand and tugs, but it's useless. I'm so hot, so thirsty. The effort of walking the mile from Piper and Jason's place to ours weighs me down. The rain feels like a blessing – how ironic, I think, water blessing me from the sky. "I just … Let me feel the rain for a sec."

I'm tempted to peel off my shirt so I can feel the water stream down my back, but I've been feeling a little self-conscious lately. I close my eyes and lift my face, stretching out my arms as the heavy rain drops hit me, making my shirt cling to my skin. The sensation is amazing.

Annabeth makes a sound like an aggravated snort. "We're in the middle of a thunderstorm and you wanna stop and feel the rain?" I can picture her getting soaking wet, her eyes flashing, her hair sticking to the sides of her face as she juts out her hip. It makes me smile. But getting home and taking off our wet clothes sounds like a pretty damn tempting idea too. I open my eyes and grin at her sheepishly, then take her hand. I squeeze it as we start walking again. There's no sense trying to stay dry when we're already soaked. I fix my eyes on the pavement in front of us and let my thoughts drift to what I want to do when we get there.

"I know what you're thinking," she says. "You've got that goofy, horny look on your face that tells me you wanna give the baby-making thing another spin.

My whole body floods with warmth. I do. I really do, and I don't make an effort to deny it. And then time freezes. Everything around us stops as if someone, some _god_, pushed their pause button on their remote control while watching us on Hephaestus TV to get up and grab another bowl of popped ambrosia.

Annabeth releases my hand and I hear her unsheathe her blade. "Percy? Where's Riptide?"

I hear her as if she's a long way off, I'm distracted by the raindrops caught mid-fall, wondering if water would react the same as usual when it's been paused. Then my brain catches up to my ears. Riptide? I put my hand in my pockets, or would have if I hadn't elected to wear sweatpants without pockets today. "Uh, I fucked up," I say, and then a burst of white and blue flame erupts in front of us on the sidewalk. Hera, our least favorite goddess, stands looking down her regal nose at us and towering ten feet tall.

Hera hasn't been around much since the war ended and Zeus put her in a time out for meddling in mortal affairs. I would normally open my mouth and tell her off, and then have to go through a world of pain and suffering, proving my point and making no difference. I keep my mouth shut. Maybe I'm growing up.

Annabeth speaks for me, but even she restrains herself. I can almost hear her brain running scenarios of what consequences are likely based on how she reacts. "What do _you_ want?"

"I come, as it turns out, to offer my congratulations. You are not my favorite individuals, but you have upheld your marriage vows longer than most demigods and that is an honor to me."

I blink, not quite getting it. "Yeah, but that's not why we honor our vows. It has nothing to do with you."

Annabeth jabs her elbow in my side and it hurts far more than it should. Tears spring to my eyes as I clutch my stomach. "Owwww."

Hera narrows her eyes at Annabeth and Annabeth returns the glare. "Whatever congratulation you have to offer, keep it. We're leaving now. C'mon, Percy." She reaches for me, but I'm still trying to get my pain in check. She throws her arm around my back, her anger turning to concern. "What happened?" She glares at the goddess. "What did you do to him?"

I straighten up, the pain finally receding, but I'm gonna steer clear of Annabeth's elbows from now on. They're sharp.

Hera laughs. It sounds weird, like a mix between a girlish titter and a cackle. It raises the hairs on the back of my neck. "I have done nothing. All that ails him is your own doing, though really you should count it as a blessing. I merely wanted to be the first to give you my blessing."

"I don't understand," I say through gritted teeth. "Either explain yourself or clear off. You're not supposed to meddle."

Instead of doing her usual glowing with rage and leaving us with a curse, she smiles, a real stuck-up self-satisfied smirk.

"You, Percy Jackson, once complained of the unfairness of Poseidon's gift to the legacies of Periclymenus. I believe your friend Frank Zhang is one such legacy. What you may not be aware of, and I shall enlighten you, is that you were gifted with a far more precious gift from your father."

"Yeah?" I snap. I'm getting sick of the sound of Hera's voice. Annabeth doesn't say anything, and when I look at her, she's studying Hera's face as if hoping to read between the lines to what she's actually telling us.

Hera sighs. "So impatient. You are aware that as the son of the sea god, you are able to manipulate water, communicate with certain sea-life as well as horses, that you even have numerous brothers who are horses …" I want to rise up and wring her godly neck. She doesn't need to make fun of my heritage. "And …" Hera nods to Annabeth, but doesn't take her eyes off of me, "… as a daughter of Athena, your wife was born by an idea, a brainchild sprung from the wisdom goddess's mind … The marriage of your gifts will bear fruit."

I'm still not following and I feel Annabeth's hand grip my arm, her fingers clenching in a rhythm that means she's working something out. I've seen her do this with stress squeezers and pencils, and things, but it's not making my arm very happy.

"What is your point?" Annabeth growls, and Hera pulls her gossamer shawl around her shoulders as if she's going to leave.

"I will return to Olympus and leave you with this piece of advice: Consider the seahorse. I'll send Artemis to assist in about oh, six months."

She disappears in a flash of blue flame and the world comes back to the present, the rain pouring down on our heads, pelting the sidewalk and dancing off it.

"What in Hades was that all about?" I ask and tug my arm, trying to get Annabeth to walk with me.

Her grip on my arm has stopped clenching. Her palm feels hot and sweaty, and then she seems to come back to herself and walks with me, not speaking. The air between us feels heavy and oppressive with the silence between us. Annabeth has understood something I didn't. I don't like the way my nerves tingle up from the top of my head all the way to my toes.

We get home and I push the door open, then sit on the couch. She sits down next to me, and looks at me with her beautiful grey eyes. It never fails to draw me in, her gaze, that color. "You want to tell me what's going on now?"

She nods and swallows hard. "Percy. In seahorse biology, the males carry the babies to term. I think … you're pregnant."

I'd like to say I took the news like a champ, but I really don't remember. I passed out.


	20. Chapter 20

There Is No Such Thing As A Gentle Wind – Jasico – Rated T

Jason tossed and turned in his bunk. The night was hot and the sticky sweet smell of the incense the cleaning harpies burned in his cabin was so thick it coated his throat. He'd found the bed in the big house basement and Percy had helped him set it up, but no matter where he dragged it in cabin One, he felt like the eyes of the giant hippy Zeus statue were on him, judging him.

Despite Nico's reassurance that he'd chosen to stay at camp, Jason wondered how long it would last. He wondered too how much of himself wanting Nico to stay was in Nico's best interest or his own, more selfish wishes. Try as he might to squash the thoughts that crept through his brain, like tendrils of ivy, they thrived in his grey matter and were impossible to kill.

Nico. Gay. The memory of Favonius chiding him. _Yes, Jason Grace. I fell in love with a dude. Does that shock you?_ The way the god of the West Wind had said that, sarcastic, like he was reading the truth in Jason's soul and calling him on it. But Nico had admitted to having feelings for Percy, not for him.

He buried his face under his pillow, cursing himself for even going there. Nico didn't need Jason making a mess of things and playing with his emotions. The whole thing was a mess.

He stopped. Breathed deeply. The sensation of eyes on him made his body hair stand on end. His heart stopped in his throat, adrenaline kicking in. He closed his hand around the gold coin that was his sword, ready to flip it and sat up, flinging the pillow before him, eyes blind in the darkness. "Who's there?"

A shape stepped toward him from the giant statue of Zeus, short, dark, silent. _Nico._

"Having trouble sleeping, Grace?" Nico asked as Jason raked his hand back through his hair, his heart racing now that the fear of attack had passed.

"Er – yeah. I guess. What are you doing here?"

Nico came closer, stopping short beside where Jason sat on the edge of the bed. "Can I sit?"

"Yeah … sure," Jason said, mentally chastising himself for being reduced to short responses by Nico's presence.

Nico sat beside him, his legs stretched out and crossed at the ankle, his hands in his lap. "I had a visitor. In a dream. He said there was some unfinished business I should discuss with you."

Jason shifted, suddenly all too aware of the fact he was only wearing his boxers. He furrowed his brow and met Nico's dark eyes. They were huge in his pale face. They'd probably look even larger if he had his glasses on and could see them clearly. He swallowed, his throat going dry. "Yeah? Who uh … who was the visitor?"

"Favonius," Nico said and Jason's heart stuttered again, more of Nico's past phrases ringing in his ears. _How much do you trust me?_

Oh gods. He was going to have to face it. He knew for sure and certain, Wind gods – all of them – sucked.


	21. Chapter 21

So Close and Yet So Far - Percico - Rated M

**Author's Note: **smut ahead and angst

XxxX

I'm running on fumes. This emergency quest set upon us by Olympus, to deliver a package to Artemis isn't going according to plan. I've reached out to Thalia in the dream world, and Percy's passed the message to every naiad we've come across to tell the hunters we're looking for them. All our efforts have failed.

The whole journey has had me on edge. Percy says he's trying to be my friend, to show me he's accepting of me, but he's doing it to a degree that feels like flirting. I know he tends to go overboard when he decides on a course of action, but this new closeness as well as the non-stop travelling, dispatching monsters, and lack of time to sleep is not making it easy for me to not lean on him.

We stop at another quiet stream in some forest; I've lost track of which state we're even in, and Percy kneels at the bank talking to a pale green naiad. My vision blurs. She takes his message and sinks back into the water with a splash. He walks toward me, his image going double, and then the world goes dark.

XxxX

I open my eyes, blinking sleep out of them. I feel safe and warm. Percy's dirt smeared face grins down at me. "What happened?" I ask, my voice raspy, my throat parched.

"You fainted…straight into my arms. You know, if you wanted my attention you didn't have to go to such extremes."

He's wearing that stupid grin again, the one that dares me to try and not like him. I roll my eyes. I like him just fine, as friends. Annabeth is his rock and the reason he's survived as long as he has. Neither of us will forget that.

I push myself up on my elbows. I'd been using his thigh as a pillow and – I feel my face burn – we're on a bed. Together. I scoot off the edge and get to my feet, looking around the unfamiliar room, anything to not look at him. I scrub my filthy hair, disgusting myself. "How long was I out?" I ask, feeling like I need to talk to prevent an awkward silence. "Where are we anyway?"

He doesn't answer my first question. I look at him over my shoulder, my fingers tapping the sides of my thighs. He raises his eyebrows, wrinkling his forehead. His back is propped up against the headboard, his arms lifted so his hands cushion his head and his legs are stretched out on top of the duvet. He's got that calm about him that has always made me want to trust him, like his whole aura screams: _Don't worry. I got this._. "Nearest hotel I could find that looked nice. I uh … hope you don't mind, but I paid for the room with your credit card."

I don't care about that. It's not like Hades doesn't have funds to spare. I shake my head, and face away again, cursing my body's reaction to checking him out. I'm supposed to be over him, and yet here we are questing alone together, finding refuge in a hotel room that only has one bed. He's _not_ making it easy for me to move on. I wonder if he's aware of it, if he's toying with me, but even though Percy is a lot of annoying things, he's not a bully. He wasn't even aware how bad I had it for him for so long. I don't think he would deliberately play with my emotions.

"I'm gonna use the shower. I stink so bad I'm offending myself," I tell him, trying to diffuse my nerves with humor. "I'm surprised you didn't push me off your lap."

I don't wait to hear how he answers. I can't do it. I'm supposed to be over it, this stupid crush. I walk to the bathroom and close the door behind me. I lean with my back to the door, my heart thudding, my balls aching. I press my hand to my groin, unable to stop myself from squeezing a little, adjusting. My jeans aren't tight and I hope to Hades Percy didn't notice them tenting.

Okay, I need to just do this, not think about Percy in the next room, just shower, wank my cock back to normal, and then … I unbutton my fly. I'll think about what to do next after I take care of this problem . I strip myself, realizing Percy must have taken my shoes and socks off for me, and that makes the throbbing worse.

The shower stall is larger than I'm used to and – has two shower heads. "Fuck's sake," I say under my breath. I turn on both and step inside, pulling the curtain. The see-through curtain. Figures we have a hotel room meant for lovers. I close my eyes and sigh as the warm water hits my skin from both sides. It's Elysium to soak my scalp, the water massaging me, the dirt and grime loosening under the heat and pressure. I open my eyes again and grab the small travel size shampoo bottle and pour most of it into my hand, then scrub my scalp, my erection bobbing about for attention, demanding little shit that it is. I let the shampoo sit in my hair and wrap a hand around my cock, slippery with shampoo. I rub my balls with the other hand, and it feels so good to stroke, Percy's name on my lips, choking its way out. I don't even hear it when Percy comes in.

"Hey man, got room for one more?"

I freeze mid-stroke, then flail my arms until I find the rail on the wall. The shampoo burns my eyes. I stand under the nearest shower head, rinsing my face and hair. I can't tell him to fuck off when I can't see him.

The skin on my back prickles. He's climbed into the shower with me and I can't make my mouth work. Worse, the shock didn't kill my erection. It strains even tighter at the thought of what I might see if I turn around. Percy – wet and naked.

The water drips down my face, into my mouth. I face the wall, my cock brushing the tiles and I have to make a conscious effort to not touch it. It wants to be touched.

"Percy, why are you in here?" I ask, my voice quiet. I'm still not looking at him.

"There's room," he says, "besides, taking showers together is a thing bros can do. You're my bro, Neeks."

The squelching sounds of Percy soaping up his body sounds loud in my ears. I breathe out, shuddering. The use of the nickname does things to me. I should yell at him, tell him to stop, to leave me alone, let me deal, but I don't _want_ to. I want to soak up his attention, have him call me stupid pet names, make dumb bro jokes and just let myself be okay with whatever I can get.

"Uh, Nico?" he says. "You want me to wash your back?"

My cock twitches at the suggestion; it's dripping pre-come. Gods, I want him to wash my back. I can't even remember why I shouldn't accept.

"Yeah. I'd like that, Percy." I don't dare look at him, talking to my feet instead.

I hold onto the rail, still facing the wall, the warm water cascading down my neck and back. My body flushes down my chest as I feel him move closer. Then his hands touch my shoulders, the bar of soap in one of them, slicking the path. I don't manage to stifle a moan; it comes out choked and ragged. His touch feels too good. Percy washes every inch of my back, going over the bony ridges, his hands warm. I look down at my feet, my cock red, the head swollen, the foreskin fully retracted. It's a locked and loaded gun.

And then, bliss. He steps even closer, our bodies melding together, my back to his chest, though he keeps his hips back. He moves his hands around to wash my chest, flicking my nipples and sending shocks of want coursing through my body. He leans in over my shoulder and I lift my head, our cheeks brushing, my lips parted. I can feel my pulse in my lower lip as he rubs one of my nipples, moving his other hand down my stomach.

"This okay?" he murmurs.

I nod, not capable of words. He wraps his hand around my cock and I moan loudly, dropping my head back. It rests on his shoulder and he pulls me closer, my hands leaving the rail. I lean back on Percy as he hugs me to his chest and works my cock with an expert grip.

I feel his lips at my cheek and turn my face without thinking, finding them with my mouth. I reach for him, tucking my arms behind us, finding his ass and grabbing it, pulling him closer, gasping as he shifts his hips and I feel his very hard cock slipping into the groove between my ass cheeks. I'm so close. I buck back against him, wanting him to slide his length up and down, to press against my asshole.

We kiss, open mouthed, spitting water out after each meeting of our lips. I move my hand between our bodies and push his cock down lower. He moans into my mouth, thrusting between my thighs. His hand on my chest holds me tighter, leaving prints in my heated skin. He adds a twist to the end of his strokes to my cock. I lean back even more, tasting his tongue, sucking on it, bucking back against his hips. He fucks between my thighs faster, and then I'm lost. I cry out, going rigid, and his breath huffs heavily on my shoulder, my cock spurting thick ropes of come, painting the shower wall with streaks of white.

He releases my cock and with the same hand, guides my chin so I'll kiss him again. I touch his tongue with mine, licking into the kiss, then sucking on his lips. He grunts and shifts positions so his erection drags up and down my crack again. He holds me in both arms, pulling me close, panting into my mouth. "Fuck! Close. Oh yeah."

It sends a shiver up my spine to feel him come on me, to know that's what he's doing. Percy. Came on me. Came because of me. My knees feel weak. If he wasn't holding me up, I'd be a puddle on the floor.

He turns the shower off, not letting me go, and we stand together catching our breath, my eyes closed, smile content, resting my the back of my head against his shoulder for goodness knows how long.

Then he kisses my cheek. "Let's get out and dry off. You ready?"

I nod and I think I hum my consent, but I'm not sure. I'm flying high.

XxxX

I'm so warm, so comfortable, wrapped up under the clean hotel sheets, the duvet pulled up over my shoulders. I'm not sure what time it is or even what reality I'm in. Time feels different here.

I push myself up on my hands. The hotel room is dark and I'm alone in the bed. "Percy?"

The bathroom door opens and he comes out dressed in clean clothes. He carries my clothes, clean and folded, and sets them on the foot of the bed. My brain scrambles with how he possibly managed to wash and dry our clothes so quickly, and then I notice his cocky grin.

"What?"

"So. Am I still not your type?"

Seriously. What the hell? I'm up in an instant, drawing back my fist and …

XxxX

"Ow! Dude! What the fuck?"

I blink, looking up at Percy holding his chin, squinting his eyes in pain.

"What … What happened?"

We're back in the forest where I'd passed out earlier. It makes no sense. My mind whirls.

"You fainted …" he starts, and then reality strikes me with the force of Cupid's last arrow burrowing into my bones.

It was only a dream.


	22. Chapter 22

The Fury of a Scorned Goddess – Jercy – Rated T

XxxX

"Gross," I say to Percy, bringing a handful of green slimy sludge up from the blocked fountain duct. "Why do I have to unblock the fountain? You're the one with the ability to breathe underwater.

Percy cracks a grin as he sweeps the stairs of Minerva's temple. "Yeah, but you're the Pontiac XL, dude. I'm only helping 'cause you asked.

"Pontifex," I mutter under my breath. It's horrible how neglected the temple has been. I remind myself that restoring it is the right thing to do, especially if there's any hope for the peace between the Greeks and Romans to continue. I reach down to pull another handful of muck free and my foot slips. It goes straight into the duct. I grab the side of the basin to keep from getting pulled under and try to pull my leg free. I can't. It's stuck fast. "Bro? A little help? My foot's stuck."

Percy groans, then sets his broom against the temple wall. "Seriously, Grace?"

I glare at him, letting go of the side with one hand to yank at my pant leg. "I think it's my jeans. They're caught on something just inside the duct."

"Alright," Percy says. I can hear the tired aggravation in his tone.

There isn't a lot of room in the fountain. I lean back to give him as much space in front of me as I can with my leg extended. It's hard to keep my hand holds on the sides of the basin and not have my head pulled under the water. He climbs in, one leg at a time, putting us close enough to kiss. I close my eyes against that unhelpful thought. We've messed around before, but chalked it up to drunken insanity. The last time though, I was lying about how much I'd had to drink. I curse my dick for going hard.

"Hrm. I guess I'll duck down and try to see what's got you caught." Percy says, seemingly oblivious to my inner turmoil.

I nod and open my eyes again. I stare up at the bright blue sky as Percy squirms against me, sinking under the surface and turning upside down. My mind goes immediately to what it would be like if we'd brought drinks with us. With his abilities, he could probably pull off an underwater blow job. My dick strains tighter inside my pants. _Not helping,_ I tell myself and try to think about anything else. He tugs on the leg of my jeans and I get a mouthful of water. It tastes foul. Like decaying plants. I spit it out, and then have to stifle a moan as Percy brushes my erection with his arm turning back around.

He surfaces and shakes his head. It still amazes me, how he can stay dry in the water unless he wants to be wet. His hair is just as dry as ever, black and thick, carelessly styled and somehow perfect. "Yeah, it's your jeans. I'm not sure what they're caught on, but I think the only way to get you free is to take them off."

It feels like my heart stops beating for half a second, and then starts up beating faster than ever in an effort to catch up. It will be really hard to get my jeans off and stay upright with only one leg to balance me. "Yeah. Okay." I just want to get this over with. I let go of the sides of the basin and reach for my fly, then flail my arms as my foot slips on the slimy floor. Percy steadies me, his hands on my hips. I grab the basin sides again, holding on tight.

"It's all good, bro. I got this." He grins and ducks under the water.

_Holy Jupiter. I am so fucked._ I feel his hands fumbling with my button and zipper, then pressing against my throbbing dick. I squeeze my eyes shut, wishing I could disappear, and then he moves them and pulls my jeans down. He gets them down on my good leg to my ankle and taps my leg. I support myself with my arms and step out of the jeans, then look down and watch him fumble my jeans down the other leg. He taps my shin and I try to pull my foot out, but it's stuck fast. He surfaces again.

"Bad news. The duct's working again and it sucked your jeans in even deeper. I'm going to have to cut them off." I force myself to meet his eyes. They're bright, and full of laughter, his smile huge. "But that's not your only problem, is it, Grace?

I feel his hand cup my bulge and make a whimpering sound.

Meanwhile, at base of Temple Hill, Neptune leads Minerva up the winding path.

"I've told you time and again, I do not believe these Romans capable of changing their ways. They've scorned me for thousands of years, made me into … this …" She gestures disgustedly at her jeans and hiking boots, her eyes flashing with anger, her face flushing.

"They've restored your statue, given you a home. If you want to bring the powers of Athena to your Roman aspect, you may. My son and the son of Jupiter are at this very moment, restoring your temple just up ahead. Let me show you. Allow me to convince you."

She glares at him and trudges past, digging into the ground with her walking stick with more force than is necessary. He follows at a respectful distance. She reaches the temple first and stares down at its neglected state, and then spots Percy and Jason in the fountain. She turns on Neptune with such force he's nearly blown back a pace. She's no longer Minerva. She's a ten foot tall Athena dressed in battle armor. "You lied to me!" she shrieks, leveling her sword at him. He stops, his hands up, brows furrowed. "You see!" She points at the fountain with her free hand. "They're defiling my sacred space."

Neptune looks to the fountain as his son bobs up from under the water in the basin of the fountain. Rises up in front of the son of Jupiter who is not wearing pants.

"Noooo!" Jason says, his eyes wide with fear. "It's not what it looks like. My foot's stuck!"

Neptune meets Percy's fearful eyes and frowns. _Kids these days._ All he can do is insist the punishment not be fatal.

continued in the next chapter...


	23. Chapter 23

Percy's Hissy Fit – Percy/Apollo – Rated M

Author's Note: A shameless demonstration of my porn powers. If snake!kink sounds like not your cuppa, scroll on by!

This fic happens after The Fury of a Scorned Goddess

XxxX

You know how life just sucks sometimes? Well, I can tell you right now that sucks doesn't even cover it – what happened to me. To think I used to think being a demigod was rough. Those were the days. I've spent the past two years living in a hidden cave off the coast of some unnamed island. My father offered me refuge and I took it. My pride is broken. I'm not fit to live amongst normal people anymore.

Hissing sounds fill my ears and I close my eyes, praying to fall back asleep. Just a few more minutes. It's no go. My hair's awake. Yes, you read that right. My fucking hair is _awake_. I could lie here, perfectly still, hoping to fall back into the pleasant dream I'd been having, sunning myself on a large rock, luxuriating in the heat, and then they'd start up with the tickling tongues.

I sit up on the side of my bed, my shoulders slumped, my heart heavy. Thirty years, Athena said. Thirty years of living with with Gorgon hair for cheating on her daughter and defiling her sacred space. I mean, seriously. It wasn't even really cheating. It was just Jason and didn't count. I was just messing around. It was like a bro thing, not really … Fuck. I'm such a dick. It totally did count and even Annabeth didn't find my protests or pleas for mercy worth considering.

Tears fill my eyes and I let them fall. I can't think of a worse punishment. It's so unfair. In the fountain I hadn't even done anything to Jason … yet. I curse my hormones. Yeah, pulling off an innocent plea when my intentions weren't really innocent was pretty stupid.

Jason wasn't punished. Apparently Athena likes him. She sees him as the victim and me as a monster. Well, I suppose that's what I am now. Even if I wanted to see him again, if I was willing to let him see me like this, he wouldn't. What a bitter pill to swallow.

"It could be worse you know."

I recognize the voice. Low, melodic, godly. I turn to see Apollo standing in the doorway of my cave, and even as ashamed as I am, I'm happy to see a friendly face.

"Yeah?" I ask. Gods, I sound pathetic. Like I'm groveling for attention, desperate for it.

He coasts into the room, his feet not even touching the floor until he's standing before me. I look up at his glowing face, his bright smile. He lifts his Ray-bans until they rest on his gold-blond hair. He wears them as if they were his crown. His power emanates from him and I feel it warming me from the inside.

_Damn._ I cringe. The snakes at my groin are writhing under his warmth. I'm still at the point where it's easier to pretend they don't exist than to acknowledge how profoundly horrific this punishment is. But their sinuous wriggling and Apollo's intense gaze have me halfway to a hard-on in an instant. I need to stay cool, to not let him know what's happening. I don't even know why he's here, why he's looking at me like this.

"Yeah," he says. His voice is deep, rough … fucking sexy. I shiver. "It's only your hair that's changed. Your face is still perfect. Contrary to what some people might say after my defeat of Python, I'm quite fond of snakes."

A couple of serpents extend themselves toward his face, their tongues flicking him. He scrunches his nose and smiles like it tickles. Nobody should look so hot getting tongued by snakes. _Fuck! Tongued …_ I hold my sheet firmly in place over my groin. I don't want him to see the movement at my groin, or to know how rock hard I am for him.

"Uhhh …" I say, mentally smacking myself for sounding so damn intelligent.

He shakes his face, as if nuzzling the snakes reaching out for him. Then he drops to his knees and looks up at me, a fine blond eyebrow raised, his Ray-bans no longer in his hair. "So, tell me, Percy. Does the carpet match the drapes?"

I feel myself blush all the way down my chest. I open my mouth and close it a couple of times. I must look like a hungry fish, gaping my lips as I search for food. I can't lie to him. I nod, and then I gasp because he slips his hands under my sheet, his palms hot on my skin, following my legs to my groin.

I hold onto his shoulders, unable to do anything else because he holds my balls in one hot hand, my dick in the other, and the dratted snakes at my groin slither over his fingers, hissing in appreciation. I arch my back, thrusting up into his grip. It's been so long since I've been touched in this way, even by my own hand. With Apollo, I don't exactly forget my cursed state, but I feel human despite it.

He squeezes my dick as he pumps it, the fingers of his other hand fondle up behind my balls, sliding up my crack and pressing against my hole. It's good. I shudder as I cling to him, risking a glance at his face. His eyes are fever bright, studying my face, my pleasure, and I can't hide it from him; I don't want to.

"You're beautiful, Percy," he murmurs, his voice licking my heart like a flame. I don't contradict him either. I can't. I _feel_ beautiful under his focused gaze, his touch.

"P-please …" I moan. "Want you."

The snakes on my head curl around my face, slithering over my cheeks, their tongues flicking my lips and nose as if they too are kissing me, as if they wish to please me. And for once, I don't hate them, don't want to withdraw into my own mind and pretend reality isn't.

He rises before me, my hands slipping from his shoulders to his waist. His shirt has disappeared and my mouth salivates at the sight of his tight abs, his dip of a belly button. He releases my dick and balls and guides me onto my back on the bed, slots himself between my legs, my feet gripping his ass. He's vanished his pants too, but I'm so far gone when his lips meet mine, our chests meeting hot and cold and fuck, I can't think under the invasion of his divine tongue.

He huffs into my mouth as his cock slots next to mine, the snakes at my groin binding them together in a grip of dry scales and sinuously tensing and relaxing muscles.

_Ahhh... If I could have you exactly as you are forever, I would._

I hear his voice in my head, prevented from answering by his tongue owning my mouth. I'm almost ready to agree with him, to give myself over to belonging to Apollo, to becoming his treasure. But my inner spirit flickers, reminding me of who I am: a son of Poseidon, a force who answers to nobody, who challenges all authority. I want that again. I need freedom.

He draws back, propping himself up on one hand, his knees between my legs, tracing my cheeks and nose with his free hand. The sparkling blue of his eyes pulls me in deep. I could sink into them, swim inside them. I shake myself, breaking the spell.

"I want to return to camp."

The smile playing on his lips makes me think I've passed some sort of test. He nods. "May I drink my fill of you first?" He thrusts his hips, sliding our cocks together through the ring of snakes.

_Fuck, yes!_ I think the words, and he seems to hear them. One of the snakes on my head reaches for him and he gives it a playful kiss, and then frees himself from the grip on his dick and ducks down, his face between my thighs.

I lace my fingers through his golden curls, and choke on a sob as he takes me deep into his hot mouth, my abs tight, my balls drawing up. I've only had two blow jobs prior to this, one from Annabeth and one from Jason, and neither can hold a candle to Apollo. I come with a cry, every inch of my body alive and reeling, flooding me with relief.

XxxX

I climb out of the passenger seat of the Sun Maserati. I wear my snakes tied back with a blue handkerchief. I figure people will either accept me as I am now or they won't, but I can't let the fear of not being universally accepted hold me back from living my life.

Chiron waves at us from the big house porch and groups of campers head our way to see what's happening. I look back at Apollo. He grins at me from under his Ray-bans. "You got this, Percy. I'll catch you later."

I smile at him and move back to a safe distance, avoiding the fiery engine roaring to life and taking off like a comet. He's right. I got this.


	24. Chapter 24

Bro Bonding Exercise - Jercy - Rated M

XxxX

This thing with Percy started pretty much since our first fist bump. I couldn't help but compare myself to him, from who was more heroic, who had the hottest girlfriend, who was the more natural leader ... You know, pretty much the same thing my dad and his probably did. That thought always sours my stomach. I think it does Percy's too.

We were better than our fathers, capable of reasonable compromises, but occasionally our bromance teetered on a thread neither of us was willing to acknowledge.

Once, I stopped by his room on the Argo II – he'd been acting bummed because Annabeth wasn't paying him much attention – and his hand was busy under his blanket.

"Really, man?" he said, pulling his hands out, sheepish, his face going red.

I was ready to apologize for coming in without knocking, and then dunk my head under the faucet in the bathroom to cool my cheeks from my own embarrassment. Instead, in typical Percy fashion, he made it a joke.

"Bet my dick is bigger than yours."

And just like that, the competitive edge crashed down on top of me, my heart racing, my hormones going wild at the words 'dick' and 'big'.

"You think so, Jackson?" I was half-hard already, but undeterred.

He raised an eyebrow and gave me a cocky grin, spotting me pressing my hand to my groin. He shifted over in his bunk. "Get over here and let's find out."

I won the bet by an inch.

XxxX

After that, we laughed it off. Comparing dick sizes and getting off next to each other is such a typical frat boy thing to do. We figured risking our lives to save the world killed our chances at getting into any frat, but that didn't mean we couldn't mess each other around a bit in the same fashion.

The next time happened after Chrysaor made us both feel like fools. Hedge sent me away after telling me my 'help' while exhausted and humiliated really wasn't much help, so I went below deck and knocked on Percy's door. He flung it open looking about as humiliated as I felt.

When he saw it was me, he grabbed my arm and pulled me in, then shut the door. "You look like crap, Grace."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Yeah, getting knocked out by a dolphin man …" I scowl. "I don't think I'll be able to sleep. I'll be beating myself up trying."

"Tell me about it, bro. I got disarmed pretty much the second I crossed swords with that golden jerkoff."

I raised my eyebrows in amusement. "Nice choice of words."

He shrugged, grinning stupidly. "Well. That's what my plans were. Helps me relax."

"You wanna?"

"Bro bonding exercise? Do you have to ask?"

We stood a foot apart, rubbing our dicks through our pants. My breath got heavy, watching him, then I wondered if he'd be weirded out that I was getting hard watching him rub his dick and looked up, but he was doing the same thing to me and instead of weirding me out, it got me harder.

We pulled them out at last and Percy, typically, challenged me to a duel. We smacked dicks, and fuck if it wasn't the most awesome feeling in the world, giggling like naughty school boys until the sexual frenzy ramped up and we finished by jacking off with our dicks rubbing together, our hands making a shared fist.

The second I heard him call out and watched the come spurting from his tip, it was over for me too.

"Dude!"

"Bro!" we said together as we came and it made it feel like it was not such a huge deal.

We wiped our hands off and tucked ourselves away with shit-eating smiles.

"Damn, Grace. You save that load up for awhile?"

"Yeah, well. I've been busy."

I left to catch a couple of hours of shut eye and I think we both crashed the second our heads hit the pillow.

XxxX

Percy seemed different after Tartarus and after I got stabbed in Ithaca, I thought our bromance had played itself out. I was alright with that or that's what told myself anyway. But it wasn't until Percy exploded the toilets that I realized exactly how powerful he'd become and how _not_ in control of himself he was. It took a huge effort for him to accept that Annabeth and Piper had to go search for the _makhai_ on their own. I didn't even hear they'd left until he popped by my room, slumped on the side of my bunk and told me.

"I feel like I'm going to break out of my skin sometimes," he said. "I just feel so helpless, so out of control. I keep thinking she won't come back, that she'll face something impossible, and I should be there, and I'm not, and … Man. I know she's got what it takes to survive, but after how the last time ended …" He fell silent.

I winced as I shifted in my bunk to give him some room and it was weird when he laid down beside me and curled up, throwing his leg over my hips. His proximity had me hard in no time. He noticed.

His hand was inside my tenting jeans a second later, pulling gasps from my throat like my dick was a gasp lever. "Dude" he whispered.

"Yeah?"

"I wanna suck you off."

My eyes flashed open in an instant, red flags waving around in my brain. "What? Like a blow job?" I would like to say my voice sounded sexy and deep, but it came out a lot higher pitched. It made him grin, though the smile didn't meet his eyes. He looked lost, like he was searching for something to ground him, something to keep him sane. If sucking my dick would do the trick, I counted it as a win-win.

He wrinkled his nose at the phrase 'blow job'. "Nah, man. That sounds gay. I'm talking about a bro job."

It took all my effort not to laugh at him, not because I didn't want to make fun, I did, but because laughing would hurt my stab wound.

"Yeah, sure. Suck it, bro."

Uh … I think that's when things really started changing on my side. The guy has talent and no gag reflex. Is it any surprise I jumped into the ocean later with half a second to figure out how I was going to breathe?

XxxX

I dunno. Saving the world and realizing we made it does something to a person. It makes you really want to live life and live it fully. I'm mad about Piper, there's no lie there, but I can't help but want to rub my dick up with Percy's. With the whole Greek/Roman going back and forth thing and remembering how messed up I was about that, I suppose it's only natural I'd be messed up about this too.

I remember meeting Cupid with Nico, how Cupid had shown us his face because we had both felt the sting of love. I wonder if it's possible to find love with two people, and more than that, I felt guilty as hell knowing Nico crushed on Percy for so long with no hope and I had basically been playing in his pants since shortly after we met. Still, Nico seems to have found a real connection with that Apollo kid, Will Solace. I'm happy for them.

I talked to Piper a while ago, not naming names, just testing to see if she'd think less of me for having some feelings of attraction for guys. She figured it out a long time ago and said she didn't mind if I messed around a little with Percy as long as I agreed my primary relationship was with her. I mean, seriously. How did I ever end up with such an awesome girlfriend? When I suggested, only half in jest, that I would be okay with her messing around with Annabeth, and then saw how red she blushed, I uh … We broke more than a couple camp rules on the roof of cabin One. Thankfully, Will Solace is good for quietly providing condoms without asking any questions.

XxxX

The night before Percy and Annabeth were going to head back to New York, I stopped in to talk to him after curfew. Having cabins to ourselves that are right next door made it pretty easy to slip in without being noticed.

"Hey, man," he said as I approached.

He was lying back on his bunk and staring up at the wave patterns on the ceiling coming from a lamp Tyson had made for the cabin.

I sat down and then lay down beside him when he rolled his eyes at me. We stayed that way for a little while before Percy spoke again.

"Annabeth …" He cleared his throat. "You know I don't keep secrets from her, right?"

I didn't know, and it surprised me. Why hadn't I realized that about him?

"Yeah, well …" I looked into his eyes and it was so bizarre, I really wanted to cuddle and be close before he left for the year. It was deeper than messing around.

"Bro, come on," He said. "You know you want to do it … go for it."

I blinked. I wasn't thinking of jacking dicks at all. I wasn't sure how to respond. "What _it_?" I asked, leaning in closer, feeling his breath on my face.

"Kiss me," Percy said. "You can't be that stu–"

I shut him up before he got carried away with the insults, and damn … the guy knows how to kiss. He sucked on my lips and tongue while I breathed in his clean scent, rocking my groin against his thigh. He whimpered, and the sound of submission raised the stakes, ramping up the fire in my veins until I couldn't hold back. I pinned him down with the weight of my body and staked my claim on his mouth, owning it. When we broke apart to breathe, his lips were cherry red and his eyes glassy with lust.

We ended the night slippery with sweat, tangled limbs, matted hair and as I spilled my load and took Percy's dick into my throat as far as I could, I achieved my ultimate goal: making Percy Jackson howl.


	25. Chapter 25

Clearing the Air – Solangelo – Rated T

XxxX

It's odd, Nico thinks, Will Solace has always seemed to be the sort of guy that has his shit together.

During Nico's three day stay in the infirmary, Will functioned like he was an extension of the room itself. He'd check up on Nico at regular intervals, not-quite pulling off 'professional', but certainly competent and in control.

Will had listened to Nico's half-assed excuses – that the stitches on his werewolf scratches were fine as they were, that he didn't want to wear the infirmary gowns and even an orange camp T-shirt would suffice, that he honestly could recuperate in his own cabin and didn't have to take up space when the infirmary bed might be used by someone who really needed it – and then cracked a grin and firmly said _no_. And even though Nico grumbled and acted moody, Will got his way and worked his healing magic with a smile. By the end of the third day, Nico had felt _good_, healthy even for the first time since before his fall into Tartarus, but even more than that, he felt like all the parts of himself were finally slotted in the right order.

It wasn't only Will that accomplished that; Nico's not stupid. He's not going to start hero-worshipping another guy so soon after moving on from his obsession with Percy, but he does admit, if only to himself, that he's very aware of Will's presence at camp. He watches him from time to time, even stops by the infirmary with a coke and a snack on occasion. The odd part though, is how Will seems to be turning into a klutz.

Earlier in the week when Nico dropped by for a snack break, Will turned to say hi and sent an entire tray of sterile instruments skittering across the floor. When Nico joined him on his hands and knees to help pick them up, Will stabbed himself with three different scalpels, and then again with the scissors when he tried to cut himself a bandage and Nico had to tell him to stop and bandaged him up himself. Will's face and ears had gone bright red, but they laughed it off and Nico had fun just hanging out.

The day before yesterday, Will and his siblings were canoeing on the lake when Nico noticed and stopped to watch. Will wielded his paddle as if he were one with the canoe, slicing through the water ahead of the others. Nico enjoyed the view of his shirtless back, glistening under the sun, his muscles working hard, and then Will's sister, Kayla, noticed him. "Hi Nico!" she'd called. Nico had scowled, feeling like she was calling him out for doing something wrong. There was no rule against walking past the lake and stopping to watch. And then Will had flipped his canoe and Nico left as soon as he saw him surface, before he too called Nico out for being a distraction.

Last night, Jason and Piper ganged up and dragged Nico to attend the campfire with them. Will was leading the sing-along and full of high spirits, strumming his guitar and even the sight of him – surrounded by friends and family, his blond hair wild in the firelight – sent Nico's heart into a tap-dance. He'd quietly accepted his seat, squished between Jason and Piper to prevent him from escaping. When Will caught sight of him, he smiled, and then seemed to forget how to play the guitar. After a really awful attempt at 'On top of Olympus', he passed his guitar to Austin and spent the rest of the sing-along watching the colors in the fire and sometimes catching Nico's eyes.

Now, lying in bed, not wanting to get up yet, Nico wonders if his presence at camp isn't good for Will. Perhaps his old creepy vibes are starting up again, poisoning Will's ability to focus. If that is the case, it totally sucks. Maybe if he cleared the air, like he had with Percy, it would put Will at ease around him. Nico doesn't think his feelings are anywhere near as unhealthy as they had been with Percy. He's actually kind of enjoyed allowing this new interest to develop, but if it's making Will uncomfortable, he'll stop.

Nico groans and pushes his blankets down, then sits up. Yeah. Clearing the air is probably the right thing to do. It's the least attractive option and he dreads it. There's also the risk that Will won't want to be around him anymore, that he'll be creeped out at the thought of the son of Hades having a thing for him, but that's a risk that Nico's willing to take if it will stop Will from tripping over his own feet whenever he catches Nico watching him.

Nico dresses on autopilot, black jeans, skull T-shirt, boots, wondering where Will might be at this time of morning. He'll try to pull him aside so there aren't any people around to witness his embarrassment. He tells himself he can do it. He's faced titans and monsters, even Cupid, the biggest bully of them all and survived. Telling Will why he's watching him should be a breeze. Maybe he'll be able to even laugh it off and blame it on teenage hormones or something.

He opens his cabin door and stops short. Will's sitting on the steps, resting his elbows on his knees, and bouncing with nervous energy. He doesn't seem to have heard Nico open the door.

Nico clears his throat. "Hey."

Will turns and looks up at him. His face is flushed, his normally far-away blue eyes bright and focused. "Oh, hey. I wondered when you'd be up."

Nico sits beside him on the top step. It seems the safest option. If he asked Will to stand up, chances are he'd fall down the stairs before Nico had a chance to say what he needs to.

Will stops bouncing his legs and Nico can sense him relaxing. That's good. He looks out at the empty green. "Where is everybody?"

"Breakfast," Will says. "I ate earlier before my run. I never see you up for breakfast, so I didn't bother checking the pavilion. Thought I'd just hang out a few minutes and see if you were up." He's rambling, nervous. Nico sighs and figures that now is as good a time as any to have it out and see if it helps Will get back to normal.

"I think I should clear the air," Nico says. He grimaces inwardly. He used that same line when he'd confessed to Percy. And similarly, Will gives him a worried sort of look. His forehead wrinkled, eyes focused on Nico.

"What do you mean?" Will asks, confused. "You're not thinking about leaving camp again, are you?"

Nico detects anger in Will's tone when he asks the second question. He shakes his head. "No. I'm staying put." The tension seems to melt off Will at his response, and Nico's heart flutters in his chest at the sight. "Thing is, that I've noticed I seem to make you nervous. Like, you get clumsy when I'm around, and I just want to come clean about something so maybe you won't be …" he searches for the right word, finally settling on "… uncomfortable."

Will nods for Nico to go on, his eyebrows furrowing a little with suspicion.

Nico stares at his boots. It's easier to talk to his boots than to a person looking back at him. "I, uh, sorta like you, like a lot … like in more than just a friend way. And I know that's probably not what you thought you'd hear me say, and that it might weird you out a little –"

"Nico," Will interjects. Nico stiffens, then forces himself to look at Will, to face the consequences. Will's eyes sparkle in his face, his smile huge. Not the reaction Nico expected. "I like you too. It's 'cause I like you that I turn into a giant bumbling fool."

The corners of Nico's mouth twitch, tugging his lips into a smile. His cheeks flush when Will grabs his hand. _Oh gods. What now?_ Nico wonders. He never thought about what he'd do if this talk ended well.

Will leans in closer, his expression mischievous. "Can I kiss you or are you gonna make me earn that privilege?"

Nico's face explodes with heat. Kissing is something that happens to other people, not him. But why not? Why not him? He nods, eyes falling shut as Will's soft lips brush his. His nerves go haywire in a flurry of good feelings beneath his skin. He moves his lips against Will's and teases them with the tip of his tongue, ready to break free from his body when Will does the same.

They draw back, all smiles and laughter, hands clasped, knees bumping. Sometimes, a gamble can pay off, and Nico feels like he hit the jackpot.


	26. Chapter 26

Will Watching: Nico's Favorite Pastime – Solangelo – Rated T

XxxX

"Oh man," Will says, gripping a huge turkey sandwich with both hands. "You're a lifesaver." He takes a bite so large he can barely close his mouth to chew, his blue eyes twinkling at Nico, the dimples in his cheeks showing as he finishes and swallows.

His throat is long, Adam's apple bobbing, his lips bright and shiny as he licks stray mustard from them. Nico could do this all day, watch Will eat his lunch. Will clears his throat.

Nico blinks. "Huh? What?"

Will smiles again, his cheeks pink. "Nothing … uh, did you make it yourself, the sandwich?"

Nico feels his cheeks blush too. The truth is that he had made the sandwich. It was his favorite from childhood – turkey and panini – and Bianca had taught him how to make it so he could surprise their mother for her birthday. He must have been six or seven at the time. He hadn't remembered that until just now. He nods in answer to Will's question, not trusting himself not to sound emotional if he speaks.

Will seems to read it in his face anyway, but thankfully doesn't mention it. Nico's slowly returning memories from his distant past have been something he wasn't comfortable sharing with anybody, not until Will coaxed him to talk during his initial three day stay in the infirmary.

Will hums contentedly and wipes his mouth with his napkin, then pushes his plate to the side of the infirmary desk, and Nico realizes he missed watching Will finish eating. It's stupid, really, this new fascination. Fortunately, he doesn't think Will has caught on to exactly why Nico enjoys bringing him lunch.

"I have just the thing for dessert," Will says. He has that tone in his voice, like he's about ready to make a joke and Nico narrows his eyes.

"Yeah?"

Will gets to his feet, his ridiculous flip flops smacking the floor as he walks to the refrigerator in the corner. Thankfully, he opens the freezer because they keep bags of blood and other creepy medical things in the fridge portion, and despite being the son of Hades, Nico isn't keen on eating something stored in the same place as blood.

Will returns with a thin narrow wrapped package in each hand. He hands one to Nico and peels the wrapper off the other. "Popsicles!" Will says and sucks the cherry red thing into his mouth, holding onto the stick. Nico stares and Will pulls it free, his lips stained bright red. "Go on. You can't tell me you've never had a popsicle."

He shakes his head and unwraps his own, more to distract himself from blushing further than because he wants it. Will is either clueless to the fact he's sending Nico's stomach into a flurry of nerves or he's more clever than Nico gave him credit for and he knows exactly why Nico likes to bring him lunch and watch him eat it. He licks his popsicle from the base to the tip, smirking at Nico before popping it back in his mouth.

Will Solace, Nico realizes, just might be the death of him.


	27. Chapter 27

We Could Be Happy - Percico - Rated M

XxxX

I sit on the red and gold striped bedspread, the backs of my boots banging the bed frame, shoulders slumped, staring at the blank television screen. I hold onto my anger, trying to use it to tether me to reality. Life as a demigod is seriously messed up and I feel it, deep inside; if I were fully anchored, I'd be screaming, fighting tooth and nail, not going down without a fight. As it is, the fight seems to drain from my limbs the longer I sit here, the harder I try to hold onto it. I can't even recall what it was I should be angry about.

The door bangs open, springing back from the wall as Percy stumbles into the room. He's wearing a giant seahorse donut floatation thing, like little kids use, and his smile is bright and playful. He doesn't seem to notice that he's dripping all over the floor.

"Dude! The pool is _awesome_. Seriously, man." He waddles over and stands in front of me. I can't help but follow the paths water droplets make, running down his chest, trailing to his abs and disappearing under the ridiculous water toy. "It's got these jets, and if you stand in the water just right, they'll shoot you all the way across … and on the other side, I don't even know how they managed it, there's like a suction valve and it sucks you under and sends you flying through a maze of chutes and then spits you out at the top of a giant water slide. I went through it, like twenty times already. You've GOT to try it."

I'm not sure what the hell I'm even hearing. How on earth does this guy simultaneously pull off hotter than noon in July and dorkier than Donald Duck and make me like everything about him? I don't even try to figure it out. Instead I poke his seahorse in the nose and look up at his still-smiling face. "You steal your ride from a five year old?"

He laughs, shaking his head and sprinkling my bare arms with water from his hair. It gives me goosebumps and sends an aroused shudder ricocheting through my body like one of those pinball machines in the lobby.

"Nah, they were just passing them out to anybody who wanted one. I dunno. I thought it was funny." His expression changes, like he's on the edge of remembering something profound and it rests just out of reach. He cocks his head to the side, looking at me, looking _directly_ at me, almost like he's seeing inside me. My cheeks grow hot, but I don't back down from meeting his eyes. "Have I entered an alternate universe or did you really just crack a smile at me?"

I start to chuckle and the niggling at the back of my mind starts up again. _Alternate Universe_. I look down at the bedspread and then dig the keycard out of my pocket and study the label on it. LotusCash Platinum. There's something … something not right. A memory I can't quite recall. A thundering voice declaring "… too powerful to be around … the danger too great to risk … safer kept apart …" And then it dissipates like smoke, blown away with a puff of laughter from Percy when he sits beside me and throws his arm around my waist, the plastic making rubbing squelches against his skin.

"You oughtta take that thing off," I tell him, oh so aware of the current of attraction passing through my body into his and I swear I feel it vibrating back.

Instead, he leans even closer, the stupid plastic bubble bulging between us and rubs his cheek against mine. "I think I should take it all off. You in the mood to fool around a little?"

I could have sworn it wasn't possible for my cheeks to get any hotter. I was wrong. I lean my head back against his shoulder as he slips a hand up my T-shirt, his warm palm canvassing my chest and stomach and the only response I have to give is a choked gasp: "Yeah."

Percy pulls my T-shirt off and pushes me forward enough for him to stand up. I fall back onto the bed, flat on my back, my legs hanging off, my heart hammering a mile a minute against my ribs. _Ohgodsohgodsohgods. Is this really happening?_ I know I've crushed on him for years, but when I try to recall why it's okay to do this with him now, why we haven't done it before – I'm sure we haven't – I draw a blank. And then I cease thinking altogether because he yanks my jeans off, pulling my butt off the bed with them so I have to cling to the bedspread to keep from falling entirely, and then slots himself between my legs, lifting them to wrap around his waist. He leans over me as I shudder at the sensation of our naked groins touching and he kisses up my neck to my ear.

"Hold onto my back with both arms."

I do it, my eyes squeezed shut, thinking if it's a dream it won't end if I don't open them and if it's not a dream, I may pass out from the idea I'm allowing him to carry me. He stands up. My head spins. I'm hard and leaking against his stomach and in this position his cock prods my ass. Heat explodes in my cheeks and spreads down my body.

"Nico. Open your eyes."

I obey. I meet his face, relieved to see he's just as red as I must be, and he's smiling wide, his sea-green eyes dancing with mirth. I want to sink into them, to drown in him. I have a feeling I should fear my emotions, should question them, but I can't. Not when he's looking at me like this, like he's _seeing me_ and finding me worthy.

He holds me up under my butt with one arm, the other around my lower back and darts his eyes toward the pillows on the bed, then to the built in cushioned seat in front of the window. He meets my eyes again. "Bed or window?" He raises one eyebrow.

I laugh. It feels odd, strange, and so so good. I can't help but laugh at his bad jokes and apparent fetish for exhibitonism. "Bed, idiot," I tell him and he carries me the few paces to the top of the bed and doesn't set me down. Instead, he climbs up on top of it, balancing on his knees and his strength – I have a feeling he's trying to show off how strong he is – yeah, it impresses me.

He leans forward and I hit the pillows, my hands smoothing over the muscles in his back, then I grip him harder, my fingers pressing in, growing more desparate. I want …

He crashes out mouths together, lying on top of me, and works his hand between our bodies, wrapping around our cocks and pulling them together. He takes turns smearing the precome at the tips with his thumb.

I tremble beneath him, my breaths sound ragged in my own ears until I realize he's breathing just as harshly, his body trembling. "You O – Okay?" I gasp into his open mouth.

He nods, then groans, slowing his strokes. He holds himself up with his left hand on the mattress, then pulls his knees up, shifting. I lift my hips, my thighs resting on the tops of his spread knees, arching my back and making it easier for our cocks to line up. I lick my palm and watch his eyes widen as I slip my hand under his and add lubrication, and then he does the same, not letting me pull away, instead wrapping his hand around mine, so we're jerking together.

He kisses my lips again between breaths, his eyes half-closing with pleasure. "I've wanted this … you …" He jerks us, speeding up and adding a drag to the rub by rutting into the shared fist we make. My balls grow tight as I feel my climax building. I open my mouth, brushing my tongue over his lips when they come near enough. "… so long, Nico. Wanted you."

I lose it then and spill my load in hot spurts over the backs of our hands, choking a cry in the back of my throat as my vision goes white, and then he stiffens above me, making an equally embarrassing sound and I feel like I'm floating when his come joins mine, pooling on my stomach.

I stare upwards, unseeing for a moment longer, and then Percy's face swims back into focus, his lips turned up in a smirk. His gaze is level and his voice entirely serious when he says: "That was even better than the water slide."

I bust out laughing, my body tingling all over with sparks of contentment. Percy grins and flops down next to me, lying on his side. He rubs my nipples with his come slimy fingers, making me twitch. As my laughter runs its course, I look at him up close, studying his lips, his long black eyelashes. The odd voice in the back of my mind that warns me to stay alert is silent for once and I hold Percy's hand on my chest, my heartbeat returning to normal. The voice can stay silent for all I care. I'm not alone and Percy … It's going to be a blast fooling around with him, falling in deep. I could be happy here forever.


	28. Chapter 28

Fated – Jercy – Rated T

The spring afternoon is peaceful with periods of warm sunshine bearing down like warm honey on Jason's scalp interspersed with an occasional breeze, ruffling his shirt, making goosebumps stand on his skin. Every so often Percy's arm brushes his as they sit side by side on the porch swing. The aging iron chain creaks and groans as they sway in gentle unison. Jason's glad his joints don't creak quite so badly. For two guys in their sixties, Jason thinks they've aged pretty damn well. The breeze ends and the sun's warmth spills across Jason's back and shoulders once again.

He glances at Percy from the corner of his eye. Percy stares down the steps at the small shrine a dozen paces away. Jason follows his gaze and takes in the sight with him. Two torches of everlasting fire burn unwavering in their bronze sconces set into a table shaped of stones.

"Ten years, man. I still can't believe they're gone." Percy's voice sounds resigned, stronger than it had last year when they'd come to pay their respects.

Jason hums under his breath, allowing the gentle wave of loss wash over him. He looks out over the numerous shrines to fallen heroes and minor gods alike now blanketing Temple Hill, weaving like patchwork: stone, bronze, and gold with patches of grass and flowers. Then he glances at the tall open doors to his right, the entrance to Neptune's improved temple. The sound of rushing water from the numerous fountains within resonates through the foundation and inspires meditation.

Percy shifts beside him, their thighs pressing together through their bermuda shorts. Jason looks at him. "I never asked," he says, hesitating a moment before deciding to just say what's on his mind. "Are you planning to meet up with her in Elysium?"

Percy shakes his head, his black bangs streaked with silver falling into his face. He flicks them back with a jerk of his head and offers Jason a small smile.

"Nah. She's going for the Islands of the Blest. I talked to Nico shortly after … She'd already chosen rebirth."

Jason watches him swallow his hurt, his Adam's apple bobbing, but his smile doesn't falter. Jason takes in the crow's feet at the corners of his eyes, the laugh lines creasing his forehead. He hums again, looking into Percy's eyes, just as vibrant and sea-green as ever. It's a moment before he speaks and Percy doesn't rush him. They've known each other too long for silences to be awkward.

"Piper too. Nico took me to talk to her after … She'd wanted my blessing before moving on … I – I struggled for a long while. Well, you remember."

Percy nods, his forehead creasing between his eyes, his lips turning down, but he holds Jason's gaze steady. "You ever think about giving it another go? Marrying again?"

Jason lets out a short bark of laughter, shaking his head. "Nah, man. If I remarried, who'd make sure you remember to wash your socks and clean up after your crazy experiments in the kitchen?"

Percy rolls his eyes, then refocuses them on Jason's. They're darker, more serious now. "Well, honestly, I wasn't talking about you moving out …" He pauses, lifting an eyebrow. "We're practically married already, Grace …"

Jason's heart stutters in his chest, heat flooding his system, overloading his circuits. Percy has to be fucking with him. He's not going to fall for another dumb prank. He's too old for that shit. He grins, huffing forced laughter through his nose. "You're cracking up, Jackson. Pull the other one. Despite what you might believe, you're not the world's best comedian."

Percy takes it in stride, his smile stretching. He gives Jason a wink and Jason's heart flutters again. He's so beyond not amused. Percy ought to know that today of all days is the worst possible time to play with his emotions. "Grace, I'm hilarious. You're just jealous of my razor sharp wit. It's a gift, man. I didn't ask for it."

Jason sighs and runs his hand through his hair. It's nearly as long as Percy's now and more white than blond. He drops his fake smile, his lips pulling into a frown, hurt, the heat inside him turning up the juices in his sinuses. He looks away before his tear ducts get in on the action.

"But the thing is, Jason, I'm not joking right now." Percy rests his hand on Jason's thigh, his body heat radiating through the cloth barrier of Jason's shorts.

Jason inhales sharply, the tears he'd been trying to repress threaten to spill over. He wipes his nose with the back of his hand, his face hot, almost puffy. Percy is still watching him, unusually still and serious. When Jason speaks, his voice sounds rough. "There's more to marriage than doing the washing up and keeping you on a schedule."

The look Percy throws him, pretend offence and exasperation combined, brings Jason's smile back. "We work together, Grace and you know it. In more ways than just the day-to-day."

Jason's heart lodges in his throat. The few drunken times he and Percy had 'gone there' were sacred memories he keeps locked in his mind, not trusting himself to not mess up their friendship by bringing it out to the bright and sober world of reality. He'd assumed Percy was either just a flirty drunk and didn't recall what he'd done under the influence or that he was ashamed and didn't want to acknowledge it. Jason had never pushed the issue.

He gives Percy a once over, taking in his broad shoulders, his narrow waist, his still strong legs. He meets Percy's eyes again, answering the playful smirk lingering on Percy's lips. "Well, you are pretty hot for an old guy."

Percy snorts. "You look in a mirror lately? You're not so shabby yourself."

Jason feels his blush rise in his cheeks and then spread down his neck and chest. It's ridiculous how long they've danced around the obvious and how long Jason has denied what he really feels.

His throat is tight as he settles his hand over Percy's on his thigh. "Okay, then. Let's do it. But seriously, letting me work myself up into thinking you were joking … that's a habit we've gotta break."

Percy grins and winks again. He turns his hand over, clasping Jason's palm to palm. "Let's go tell the girls the good news, and then … I think I'd like to give our new engagement a test run sober. You think?"

Jason's heart thuds hard in his chest, arousal sinking low in his stomach, spreading behind his groin, making him ache. "Yeah … " His voice cracks and he clears his throat, then licks his lips. "I mean, yeah, totally."

Hand in hand, they stand and walk to the shrine symbolizing their shared past losses, this time to consecrate it with a newfound hope for the future.


	29. Chapter 29

Dance Me to the End of Love 1/2 - (Solangelo) - Rated M

XxxX

Nico blinks his eyes, the ceiling of Hades cabin coming blearily into focus. His head throbs and his eyeballs feel like they're dry in their sockets. The sound of a girl humming, footsteps crossing the flagstone floor makes him sit bolt upright, rubbing the back of his head, confused.

"Hazel?" His mouth tastes like death. He tries to moisten it and it doesn't help.

"I see you're finally awake," she says, hands on her hips. "What on earth happened at that party last night? I can't get a hold of anybody this morning; they're all sleeping in, well, except Will Solace, but he said he had to leave early since he has work this morning so he couldn't talk."

Will Solace? Nico thinks back, images rising in his mind that absolutely cannot be memories. His stomach churns. "Uhhh, I think I'm gonna be sick." He jumps out of bed, his feet burning on the ice-cold floor and races to the bathroom in only his underwear.

"Oh gods, please just let me die," he says, resting his head on his arm propped on the toilet seat, his legs and ass cold on the floor. The gods don't seem to be listening. He pulls himself up and washes his face and hands in the sink, then drinks cold water from the faucet. He's still shaky on his feet, but feels halfway human again.

"Are you alright?" Hazel asks from the door several minutes later. She brings him a bathrobe and helps him into it, and then leads him back to his bunk where he tells her most of what had happened.

"YOU DID WHAT?" Hazel demands and he can't even bring himself to meet her face. He doesn't doubt he's as red as she is flustered.

"I gave Will Solace a lap dance," he says with his face in his hands. He rests his elbows on his knees. "It's Jason's fault. He brought this stuff, some sort of energy drink he found while traveling and then showed me this video – he, uh, knows I like dancing … and I dunno. The mood was good; the party started and we were playing this Truth or Dare game … How am I going to look Solace in the face after that?"

"Mmm-hmmmm," Hazel hums through her nose. She stays quiet until Nico can't help but turn to look at her. She's hiding a smile behind her hand.

"What?" he mutters. "It's not funny. It's mortifying."

"Yes, well …" She clears her throat. "I'm gonna go and talk to Jason about what drinks he's passing around. I think you're doing pretty well. Not trying to fade into the shadows or hide out in the Underworld. You've come a long way in three years, big brother."

XxxX

After Hazel leaves, Nico gets up and puts on a clean set of clothes. He figures he has two choices: he could curl up in a ball of angst, and then Will would come in and fuss about his health, maybe diagnose him with temporary insanity, or he could get up and find Will on his own, explain about the energy drink and ask him to pretend the whole embarrassing experience never happened. Knowing Will, he'd prefer Nico choose the latter option.

As he opens the door his breath catches in his chest. Will Solace stands right outside, his hand lifted to knock, the tips of his ears sticking out from his shaggy blond curls are bright red.

"Hey. Umm … you forgot your clothes," Will says, his face going nearly as red as his ears. "Uh, can I come in for a sec?"

Nico takes the clothes Will hands him, his arms heavy like lead, and then steps back to let Will inside without answering. Even his tongue feels frozen with embarrassment.

Will fiddles with his pockets, pulling out the ace bandage he carries more for playing with than for using to bind injuries. He walks to the nearest torch and peers at the green flames.

Nico tosses his clothes on the end of his bunk, working up his nerve to say something. The awkwardness between them is something he doesn't like. He and Will have spent the past three years building a friendship like he'd always wanted and never thought he'd have. It's not like his friendships with the seven demigods of the prophecy or with Reyna, this was one that rose not out of surviving a quest and learning to trust from necessity, but because Will was interested in knowing him, and … he'd be lying if he said the feeling wasn't mutual.

He clears his throat. "Look, about last night. I – I'm sorry if I embarrassed you or made you feel uncomfortable. There was this energy drink …" Oh holy Hades, now he's talking with his hands, and babbling on about gods know what because he can't stop himself. "And I didn't mean to do that, but I didn't _not_ want to do it either, but Jason showed me this video and, I dunno. The dancing was different than I'm used to and I tried it and liked it, but I didn't realize Jason was gonna use that against me … and I'm sorry."

He heaves a huge breath, running out of words. Will grins at him, his face less red and more amused. Nico's not sure he likes it. It feels a lot like he's just put himself on the spot and now Will's going to make fun of him for it.

"Well? Are you going to say anything?" he snaps. It really isn't fair that he has to do all the talking, especially after apologizing, spilling his guts and all.

"I think you are an amazing dancer," Will says at last. He walks over to stand facing Nico, meeting his eyes. "It caught me off guard, sure, but only because I'm not used to seeing you so open and free-spirited. I thought you might have been drugged."

He touches Nico's cheek and Nico feels his face flush again, his nerves waking up all over under his skin. "I'm okay."

Will nods. "You're more than okay. I uh – Look …" He drops his hand and pulls Nico over the his bunk and they sit on the edge, then Will grabs Nico's hand. "We've been tiptoeing around this thing between us for a long time. I'd like to take a chance and acknowledge it."

"What thing?" Nico asks. He's lying about not understanding, but can't find any other words.

"Go out with me, Nico di Angelo," Will says. "Be my boyfriend."

Nico stares into Will's bright blue eyes, a little shell-shocked and surprised at the lack of knee-jerk denials that usually happen in uncomfortable situations. He nods, and when Will's smile brightens his face, Nico leans in and kisses him.

Will giggles into the kiss and pulls Nico closer until he's straddling Will's lap and laughing against his lips. He feels better than when the energy drink hit his system last night. "Maybe sometime I'll dance for you again."

Will's eyes roll back in his head and he holds onto Nico's waist. "Definitely."

"Oh my! I'll just … uh … Jason!" they hear Hazel shout, and then the door closes and they don't bother letting that interrupt the kiss. Three years of tension takes a while to unwind.

TBC ...


	30. Chapter 30

Dance Me to the End of Love 2/2 - (Solangelo) - Rated M

XxxX

Nico rolls onto his back after what feels like forever, his hair messed up beyond help, but when he looks over at Will lying on the bed beside him, he doesn't need to worry about making an impression.

Will takes deep breaths, his chest rising and falling, and then rolls onto his side to look at Nico, his grin taking up the majority of his face. "Wow. I should have asked you out ages ago." Will's ears go bright red, then his cheeks follow suit. Nico thinks it's adorable.

"Why didn't you?" Nico asks, though he suspects he knows the answer. He hasn't been very good about showing Will he'd accept the invitation. Honestly, if it hadn't been for the stupid juice Jason had given him, he might have never said a thing and Will would have moved on when he assumed Nico wasn't interested. But Will wasn't lying about the pull Nico feels, the magnetism between them. It fills Nico with a secret thrill to know Will feels it too.

"I, uh …" Will stammers, then clears his throat. "I'm actually not very brave. I was afraid you'd turn me down and then …" His eyes go round, his grin slipping. "That would have killed me. You don't have any idea how hot you are, do you? How intimidating and really sort of scary you can be to approach when it comes to touchy-feely stuff?"

Nico breathes out slowly and nods. "Yeah, I … I do that because I'm scared too. Like, if I act like I'm untouchable, then it won't hurt when nobody wants to touch me." He wrinkles his nose, feeling stupid. "That's pretty self-sabotaging, huh?"

Will reaches for him again, dragging his warm palm over Nico's cooling chest and settling over his right nipple. It sends another thrill racing through Nico's nerves, and then he realizes he's only wearing his briefs again. The bathrobe got pushed off sometime during their makeout session.

Nico shakes with laughter, remembering the ridiculous events that brought them to this point. He can't really find it in himself to be upset with Jason, though he really does need to ask about what was in that juice.

XxxX The Night Before XxxX

"Okay, okay," Jason gasps, laughing. "Watch this one next. He makes a selection on the remote control and a video starts playing on the new big screen television in the Big House's rec room.

He staggers to his feet and plops onto the couch next to Nico.

Nico's focuses on the screen where a fit young man dances, gyrating his hips, his hands caressing his own chest. He strips himself to his briefs, slowly, sensually, then turns and starts bouncing his butt while Jason cracks up, clutching his bottle to his chest.

Nico doesn't tear his eyes from the screen. His heart hammers, the music enthralling, and the dancing … His fingers twitch in his lap. He has to concentrate to keep his body still when it's itching to get up and dance along. He mentioned he liked to dance to Jason a few months ago and Jason promised to find some modern day dances to show him when he returned to camp, but this is just plain _mind-blowing._

The video ends and silence falls between them. Jason passes Nico the bottle, and Nico drinks without speaking.

"Yeah, so that's what I meant when I said today's dance styles would probably not be your thing."

The juice, though Nico wonders if it can actually be called juice, warms him up from the inside. He feels hyper alert and at the same time, powerful. Whatever it is, he likes it. "I could do it."

Jason blinks at him, his smile slipping. "What?" He looks from Nico to the blank screen and then back. "What, like now? Hold up a sec. I_am_ teasing you a little. I mean. Yeah, that _is_ a modern day style of dance, but it's really geared more toward …" He trails off with a vague swishy hand gesture.

Nico narrows his eyes. He's not stupid. He knows what Jason's trying to say. This form of dance is geared more to the 'sex for sale' culture. Still, if Jason thought it would be funny to pull as a prank on the guy plucked out of time, it would serve him right if Nico delivered on it.

He looks at the juice bottle, wondering momentarily if something in it is what's lowering his inhibitions, then he shrugs. It doesn't matter.

He glances at Jason, backed up against the arm of the couch, his forehead wrinkled, and sweat trickling from his temple. He's afraid, Nico realizes. He laughs and flashes Jason his _creepy_ smile, then finishes the bottle and hands it back. "You couldn't handle it, Grace."

Jason breathes out slowly. "Whew. You had me going for a minute there."

Nico stares at the empty bottle in Jason's hand, his mouth already dry again. "You got any more of that juice?"

XxxX

"So, we gonna get this party started or what?" Percy asks as he pushes the door to the rec room open and he and Annabeth enter. Annabeth spots Piper by the Ping-Pong table and joins her, while Jason greets Percy and bumps fists with him. "How's my bro?"

Nico watches his friends as if filtered through a pleasant haze. He feels simultaneously light in his body and weighted to the ground. Like a helium-filled balloon with a heavy clip attached to the end of its string. His mind switches from Percy and Jason's bromantic greeting to Will Solace and his friends entering the room. Butch, Lou Ellen, and Cecil head for the dartboard, while Will hangs back and surveys the crowd.

Nico smiles when Will's eyes settle on him. Normally, he isn't quite so eager to greet Will with so many people around, but now – he _feels good_. He waves as Will grins at him, and then heads over.

"Hey, Nico. How've you been?"

Nico shrugs, grinning lopsidedly. "Not bad."

Will furrows his eyebrows, scanning the room again. Then he leans in close and speaks next to Nico's ear. Will's breath feels nice on Nico's cheek, sending a small thrill running down his spine.

"What was that?" Nico asks when he realizes Will is waiting for a response to something he'd just said to Nico.

"I said it feels kind of strange that Chiron and Mr. D are okay with this party."

Nico shrugs. He halfway recalls Percy and Jason mentioning they had pulled some strings with some other god to get the camp directors out of the way for the night, but he can't recall the details. Will smells good too. It's much more pleasant to just enjoy his tropical-scented shampoo mixed with whatever hand sanitizer he uses.

Time seems to fly by.

Before Nico knows it, he's seated cross-legged on the floor in a large circle of former and current campers. They've pushed the Ping-Pong table up against the wall along with most of the other furniture, and there's some sort of game in progress.

Nico focuses on Percy in the center of the circle, doing a weird impersonation of Chiron, and then bumps Will with his elbow. "What game is this?"

Will looks over at him, his forehead creased again. "Some sort of dare tag game," he says. "Are you feeling alright? You seem a little out of it tonight."

Nico shrugs again, and turns his attention back to the circle.

"All right, Jason Grace!" Percy calls out, whooping. The noise of the chattering campers settles down as Jason gets to his feet. "I think …" Percy pauses, tapping his chin as if he hasn't quite shaken off his Chiron persona. Then he smirks, his eyes flashing mischievously. "I dare you to give Piper a Spider-Man kiss."

The crowd picks up a chant of "Do it. Do it. Do it." Nico laughs along with the rest as Jason brings an evening breeze through the open window and uses it to lift himself up to the ceiling, then turns upside down and kisses Piper, dangling as if from a strand of spider silk.

Will sets his hand on top of Nico's, brushing his thumb up and down the inside of Nico's wrist. Nico closes his eyes, enjoying the sensation. He and Will aren't dating exactly. They're at the tricky point where they're both aware of their mutual interest, but are waffling a little because of all the 'what ifs'. In this moment however, Nico doesn't even think about how taking things to another level could risk their friendship. He wants to touch … to be touched … to feel.

He opens his eyes after what feels like a very long time, Will's thumb still stroking his hand so it must not have been long at all. The other campers climb to their feet and gather their stuff, then and head out in groups of twos and threes. Nico and Will are the only ones still sitting on the floor. Nico doesn't really mind missing the end of the party.

"You ready to get up?" Will asks. His voice is a low hum Nico can feel buzzing in his veins.

And then Jason drops to his knees in front of them, smiling weirdly.

"Hey, Nico."

Nico stares at him, probably wearing what Jason tells him is his 'bitch face'. "What?" Nico asks. Will moves his hand away from Nico's and Nico scowls at Jason for ruining the moment.

"Everybody's headed back to their cabins for the night, but I was saving my dare for you."

Will chuckles nervously. "Umm, I think we should probably get back too …" he starts, but Nico cuts him off, holding up a hand for silence. Jason is _daring_ him. He's not going to just go to bed yet.

"What's the dare?" he asks, focused on Jason.

Jason leans forward and whispers in Nico's ear. "Dare you to try out those dance moves on Will." Then he stands up and sprints for the door before Nico can respond. "Night guys. Lock up the room when you leave for the night."

The door closes and it's just Nico and Will. A sort of heavy tension hangs in the air between them, but Nico doesn't pay it any mind. It almost seems to feed him. The dance he'd seen, those moves … He looks at Will, who seems to be trying to find his voice, probably to remind Nico of all the camp rules they've already broken tonight, probably to stop him from taking Jason's challenge.

"Will," he says before Will can speak, staring right into Will's round blue eyes. "Go and sit on the couch. I'm taking the dare."

Nico climbs to his feet and kicks off his shoes. He expected to feel a little dizzy standing up so quickly, but instead, his nerves thrum. He feels almost like the air around him is bolstering him, balancing him, like he's connected with the world hidden by the Mist.

"What's the dare, Nico?" Will asks. He sounds nervous, but Nico just points at the couch as he crosses the room and picks up the remote control.

"I'm going to dance." Nico says. He pulls off his socks, then clicks the remote to the video Jason had shown him earlier. He clicks it again to turn off the screen so only the sound plays. He needs music to dance and would rather wing it with the screen off than be constantly comparing his dancing to the guy in the video.

It's interesting, this modern music – so vibrant – almost as if it compels a person to dance.

Nico stalks towards Will, determined to wipe the confusion off his face, to enrapture him until Nico dancing is the only thing on his mind. Nico swings his hips, then juts to the right, smirking as Will's eyes immediately snap to follow him.

Nico does it again, rolling his hips from side to side, then jerking them upwards as Will follows every movement. Nico dances closer to Will, and then turns around. Using his arms for balance, he swings along with the dance beat, bending his knees, and bouncing his butt like in the video. He grins when he hears Will suck in his breath with an appreciative hiss.

Nico relaxes to the beat, swinging his hips again, stepping forward and turning back around. He stands right in front of Will, and then lifts the hem of his T-shirt right beside his hipbones. He pulls it up slowly, gyrating his hips. He brings his shirt up to expose his nipples as Will moistens his lips with his tongue, and then Nico pulls it off altogether and drops it.

His nipples have always been super sensitive and now, bared to the air, they stand out in hard nubs. He rubs his palms over his chest, still swaying to the beat, then drags them down to his fly.

Will's eyes grow huge and he glances up at Nico's face, swallowing hard. Nico moves one hand and rests it on Will's shoulder, then lifts his leg so his foot rests next to Will's thigh on the couch cushion. Nico thrusts his hips, rolling his pelvis close up until Will is under his thrall again. He climbs onto the couch, straddling Will's lap, but not touching him. He supports himself on his knees and the back of the couch, and then jerks his hips. A thrill rushes through Nico's body when Will runs his hands up and down Nico's sides, his palms sweaty and hot, then rests them on Nico's hips.

Nico breathes Will's scent in again, his own arousal seeming to sharpen it. It would be so easy to fall in and just make out with Will right now, but that's not what the dare was. Nico reminds himself he's dancing.

He pushes himself back off the couch, Will reluctantly releasing him. Nico smirks as he turns around again, his back to Will, first catching sight of Will trying to subtly adjust himself. Nico sways to the music once more, his arms moving more fluidly, and then he plants his feet and shakes his ass, his grin taking over his whole face.

Nico turns to face Will again, this time determined to finish the dance. He trails his hands down his chest and pops the button at his fly. He pushes his jeans exposing the waistband of his briefs, watching as Will's eyes devour his hipbones. Undulating with the music, Nico drops his jeans to the floor and kicks them to the side.

Standing before Will wearing only his briefs, Nico feels on fire. His body thrums as he works it, moving closer to Will's lap, his legs on either side. He uses his thighs to lower himself, barely brushing Will's thighs, and stroking his own chest with his palms. He closes his eyes, his body dancing by instinct, and then flicks one of his nipples, and groans as the flames inside him rise even higher. He swears there's got to be a whole nervous system connecting his nipples to his cock. He's come apart before only touching his nipples, and now, with Will's eyes on him, the sensation multiplies tenfold. His cock is rock hard in his briefs, pushing against his waistband, angled toward his hipbone.

When Will settles his hand on Nico's hip, so close to Nico's cock, the want inside him burns like a fever. Nico opens his eyes again, and takes in Will's face: lips parted, panting his breaths, his other hand at his groin, massaging … And Nico can't resist any longer. He lowers himself onto Will's lap, wraps his arms around Will's head, pulls Will's face to his chest, and nearly falls to pieces as Will kisses his left nipple, then bumps it with his nose, following up by dragging over it with the flat of his tongue.

Nico's hips work on their own steam, bumping against Will's stomach until the head of his cock pops over his waistband, and grinding his ass against the bulge in Will's pants.

Nico's eyes fall closed again when he sees Will has closed his and he goes with what feels natural. He drops his face into the crook of Will's neck, breathing his scent in some more. It's heavy with arousal, more potent and intoxicating than ever. Will closes his arms around Nico's back, his skin so soft and his grip so strong, hugging Nico even closer, then rocking his hips to meet Nico's grinding.

Nico's whole world bottoms out. He can feel his asshole flexing, the head of his cock kissing Will's abs. When he had pulled Will's shirt up, Nico can't recall, but it doesn't even matter because the friction is exactly what he needs.

Will tightens his arms, bumping his hips more forcefully against Nico's ass, and Nico loses it. His cock shoots hot and slick against Will's skin, spilling warm come between them. Will goes rigid under him, groaning a pleading cry that's muffled against Nico's sweaty chest, and then clarity hits Nico like he's been doused with ice water.

_Oh shit._

He'd only meant to rise to Jason's stupid challenge, to dance, maybe to tease Will a little before scampering off to his own cabin. He'd indulge his fantasies about what Will might be doing back in his own bed, perhaps trying hard to stifle an erection he can't take care of in a room full of his siblings. But the reality, the fact he and Will have never even kissed, and now they just …

Will's shoulders tremble as he comes down from his high and Nico doesn't want to let him down, doesn't want to be accused of cowardice, but what if Will gives him that look? That _seriously, Death boy? If you want to get yourself killed_ \- judgey look. He feels Will's lips starting to form words against his skin and dissolves into shadow before he has a chance to hear them, materializing in his own cabin and feeling like he's going to pass out.

Somehow he makes it to his bed before doing exactly that.

XxxX Back to the Present XxxX

Will laughs along with him and then tackles Nico to the bed, covering him with his body. "So, Death Boy. Why don't you put some clothes on and we can take a walk down to the lake? Three years of dancing around each other … I want to make up for as much of that lost time as I can."

Nico tries to hold his scowl at the stupid epithet that he'd always thought was Will judging him. Now though, looking at how Will's eyes sparkle when he uses it, Nico thinks Will means the name to be affectionate. An affectionate Death Boy. As far as pet names go, Nico thinks it actually sounds a bit badass. But if Will thinks he's the only one allowed to use pet names, he's got another thing coming.

Nico slaps Will's ass, flashing his Jason-defined 'bitch face'. "Get off me, _Sun Baby_ and I'll be able to."

Will's cheeks turn so red he looks like he's got a sunburn. He rolls off of Nico, curling on his side, and Nico climbs to his feet to find his clothes. He slips them on and drops down to tie his shoelaces, suddenly aware of how quiet Will has become.

"What's the matter with you?" Nico demands. "I'm getting dressed, ready for you to take me for a walk as requested."

Will's color has mostly returned to normal, and he pulls himself into a seated position on the edge of the bed, but the scrunched up face he's making confuses the fuck out of Nico. Nico stands up and meets him, bumping their knees together.

"Will?"

Will cringes, looking up at Nico, then pulls Nico down until they're sitting beside each other. He leans over and whispers in Nico's ear.

"I need to stop by my cabin before we head to the lake. When you called me Sun Baby, I came in my pants."

Nico giggles. "Nobody needs to know that. It'll be our secret," he says, his lips twitching.

Despite the confused looks people give when Nico uses the endearment in public, Nico doesn't stop laughing about the incident for the rest of their lives and yes, they're together that long.


	31. Chapter 31

Avast, Me Hearty - (Valdangelo) - Rated T

Notes: Takes place at the end of Chapter Two in HoH – a missing scene or alternate canon, if you want to call it that. First three paragraphs are altered to Nico's POV and taken from canon.

XxxX

"I'll be okay," Hazel called up to Nico and Leo. "Stay put and wait for me."

"Wait for how long?" Nico asked. "What if you don't come back?"

"Don't worry, I will," Hazel promised. Nico watched as she spurred Arion, and they shot across the countryside, heading straight for the growing tornado.

He turned back after she disappeared, only catching Leo Valdez looking quickly away and adjusting something on his Archimedes sphere. Furrowing his eyebrows, he marched up the quarterdeck and paused behind Leo. He was fed up with people watching him from afar, always looking away when they saw him looking back. Why did he constantly put up with it? Yet, calling Leo out on it, having the nerve to do it, at last with Hazel off the ship, he couldn't help thinking it was a really dick move. He moved back a few paces, and scuffed the sole of his boot against the deck to let Leo know he was there.

Leo spun in his chair at the sound, his face screwed up. "Dude! Don't sneak up on people like that. You're going to give me heart failure."

Nico blew his bangs out of his eyes. Even when he tried to _not_ startle people, they still freaked out. Finally, he just had to say something. It didn't even matter how Leo took it. He told himself he didn't care.

"Why are you always so jumpy around me? What is it about me that freaks you out so much?"

Whatever Leo had expected to hear, that wasn't it. His forehead wrinkled, his eyes widened, his lips turned down at the corners, and he scratched the back of his head. "I – I'm not really sure." He paused and looked at Nico, really _looked_ at him. It made Nico's skin prickle, and he wanted to kick himself for starting the conversation now that he'd put himself up for scrutiny. Leo's expression softened, his eyes crinkling with laugh lines, his lips stretching into a grin. "It's kinda funny, now that you bring it up. You're almost as scrawny as me."

Nico scowled. That's _not_ something he wanted to be reminded of. He'd been trying to eat more, but after eight days in that jar – He shook the thoughts out of his head. He didn't need to go there in front of Leo.

"Hey, man," Leo said, holding up his hands as if to show he wasn't a threat. "I don't mean it as an insult. I just really suck at talking to organic lifeforms."

Nico blinked. That had to be the most idiotic statement he'd ever heard another person utter. "What are you even talking about?"

Leo nodded, smiling wider. "See what I'm saying? That, right there proves my point. You're human, and all," he said, gesturing randomly up and down Nico's body. "If you had, you know, like gears and pistons, a control disk or whatnot, I'd probably fall in love with you."

Nico blanched. It wasn't possible that Leo … No. Leo had no idea about what he was talking about. Nico forced himself to relax, affecting an air of nonchalance. "Whatever."

Leo shrugged and clicked a few switches on the console, then looked up at the rigging Nico had practically made his home aboard the Argo II. "So, tell me, what's so fascinating about sitting up there …" he jerked his thumb at the mast, and nodded toward the rigging, "… all the time? I swear, anytime anybody's looking for you, that's where you are."

Nico shrugged and dropped into the second chair before the console. He wasn't sure why he decided upon a straight answer, but if Leo was being honest about not understanding 'organic lifeforms', if that explained why he was always inappropriately blurting things out, then maybe they had more in common than Nico had thought at first.

"It's kind of stupid," he said.

Leo perked up at that. "Oh yeah? Lay it on me, baby. I can get down with stupid reasons to do stuff."

Nico's lips tugged into a smile almost without his noticing. "I like stories about pirates. When I'm up there, I dunno … It kind of feels like I'm transported to another place, like a fictional pirate ship. I can just let my mind go and leave all this Gaea stuff – this demigod nightmare existence – in the dust."

Instead of grinning and making a stupid joke, Leo paused, a thoughtful look crossing his face. "You know, that's kinda deep. And I don't really think it's stupid either. To be honest, the Pirate life sounds pretty damn cool in comparison with reality."

They exchanged a sideways look, both grinning. The rest of the crew was below deck, and Hazel would probably be gone at least another hour. So long as Festus kept watch, it wouldn't hurt to have a little fun.

Leo started the ball rolling. He pulled a rubber patch out of his tool belt, and ripped a piece of duct tape into strips, then slapped it over his left eye and secured it. "Avast, me hearty. Batten down the hatches and pull out your hornpipe."

Nico snorted, then stood up, his sword in hand. He grinned as Leo glanced at it nervously, and then slipped it into the scabbard on his belt. "Keep a sharp eye, matey. Thar be monsters in these waters."

They tossed pirate phrases back and forth for an hour until Leo handed control of the ship to Festus, and Nico and he sat side by side on the starboard bow to wait for Hazel to return.

"You're not so bad …" Leo was saying while Nico looked out toward the mountain his sister had disappeared into. "You know, for a scrawny dude."

Nico smirked and said nothing.

Leo fiddled with a length of wire and a few odds and ends in his lap, then turned to Nico. "Your line is: You're not so bad for a scrawny dude, either, Valdez. Sheesh. Look at me. _I'm_ giving lessons in etiquette?"

Nico cleared his throat. "I didn't want to risk being strung up by the yardarm for telling tales."

Leo scrunched up his nose and bumped Nico's leg with his knee. The touch sent a weird sort of thrill chasing through Nico's nerves and making his stomach squirm.

"Avast! Thar she blows!" Leo called and Nico looked out to where he was pointing.

Hazel sped toward them on Arion's back, and Nico knew he'd be lying to himself if he said that Leo Valdez didn't have at least a few redeeming qualities. Maybe one of these days, Nico would admit the same was true about himself.


	32. Chapter 32

Is This Real Life? - (Will Solace/Apollo *Suncest*) - Rated M

XxxX

_Shit!_

Will groans as the first morning sunbeam filters through the slats in his window and bathes his face in warmth - Apollo's good morning kiss.

He squeezes his eyes tightly closed, gripping his sheets, not wanting to face the truth.

Every morning for the past month without fail, ever since he accidentally spotted his dad and the West Wind going at while out for his morning jog, he wakes up instantly hard and thinking about his father. Worse still, he's not thinking about his father in just an appreciative way. That would still weird most people out, but when your dad is a Greek god and looks like sex on legs, it's at least understandable. No. Will's thinking about how much he wants Apollo to do those things he did to Zephyr, to him.

If anybody ever found out, his brothers and sisters, his friends – gods, Mr. D – he's not sure he'd be able look any of them in the eye. The shame, the fear … and … _oh fuck._ The sunbeam grows. He can feel it spreading down his face to his bare chest, his nipples hardening into pebbled nubs. He stifles a groan low in his throat and shifts his hips. He's so hard it hurts, and resisting the urge to touch himself takes all his willpower and then some.

He turns his head, sweat trickling into the shell of his ear from his temple and opens his eyes a crack. The rest of the cabin is still shrouded in darkness. The only sounds are the soft snores from his sleeping brothers and sisters. Will fights his instinct to sing a paean to Apollo out of gratefulness they won't see him in this state. He's not grateful for the state itself.

The sunbeam grows warmer as if it's seeping into Will's skin, warming his muscles, relaxing his ligaments. He bites his lip to keep from crying out, his cock dribbling precome against his cotton briefs as a thought strikes him. What if Apollo is aware of what's happening to Will? What if he's doing it deliberately?

The idea sends a shockwave through Will's nerves, twinging deep in his middle, behind his navel. Will inhales deeply. He hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath until silver sparks flash in his vision: a sign his blood pressure is too high.

_Touch yourself, Will. Relieve that pressure._

Will's mind freezes, though his body seems to move on its own agenda, fed by the sun and fueled even more by the suggestion. He's not sure if it's his own mind talking to him or if it really is Apollo. He blinks, a bead of sweat catching in his eyelashes.

"Apollo?" he whispers.

He regrets speaking as soon as the name crosses his lips. If it isn't Apollo doing these things to him, if it _is_ something as simple as a hormonal flare up, he's going to have to explain himself to Apollo. Saying his name is as good as summoning him, and Apollo has always responded when Will called for him.

Will turns his head from side to side on his pillow, soaking it with sweat from the back of his hair and neck. He shuts his eyes tight and grips his sheet in tight fists on either side of his hips to keep from touching.

"Will?"

Apollo's voice.

Will wants to cry, though he's not sure if it's frustration, pain, or sexual desperation that's breaking him down.

Apollo sweeps through the sweat on Will's brow with his hand, then pushes the heel of his palm up against Will's forehead, and threads his fingers into Will's wet hair.

"You don't have a fever," Apollo murmurs, and Will forces his body to still, concentrating on returning his breathing to a normal pace. When Apollo withdraws his hand, Will opens his eyes and looks up. It's worse than he imagined, seeing his father in person, _in the flesh,_his mind unhelpfully supplies.

Apollo's sky blue eyes seem to dance with merriment despite the concerned expression on his face, his eyebrows furrowed, forehead wrinkled, lips turned down at the corners.

"I need …" Will starts to say, and then stops as another wave of heady arousal racks his nervous system. It leaves him feeling like a live electric wire cut in the middle, sparking with danger that can kill. Will stares into his father's eyes, pleading in his mind that Apollo not make him say it out loud.

Apollo's frown deepens, and this time Will really does cry, hot tears streaking down the salty trails already left from his sweat. He feels like a failure, a disappointment. Like Apollo has seen the gaping hole in Will's chest, the rotten thoughts chewing through his heart and spreading like cancer.

"No," Apollo says as he wipes Will's tears from his eyes. Apollo's touch, even on his eyelids, acts like a balm to Will's emotions. It does not quell the ache in his dick. It throbs in Will's briefs and Will gasps, hoping to Hades Apollo will mistake it for pain. "I think you need to come with me. I'll take you to Delos and sort you out away from the others." He boops the end of Will's nose with a playful knuckle, and smiles again. "That okay with you, Kiddo?"

Will nods. Away from the shame, the exposure. He might be able to tell his father the truth, to brainstorm whatever is fucking with his head and figure out how to fix it. If it's just them, he'll find the courage.

The world disappears in a swirl of gold and silver, and in the space between breaths, Will finds himself lying on another bed. A dry one.

He looks left and right, not finding Apollo. The room's decor looks to be a mix between what Will imagines a rich college frat boy would choose, and a shop dedicated to the study of ancient culture. Marble and bronze puzzles and games sit on top of a shelf holding a sweet pimped out stereo system, and paintings hanging from the walls are interspersed with movie posters.

The mattress dips behind him, and Will turns to look, swallowing over and over as his salivary glands go into overdrive. Apollo, appearing to be no older than eighteen, the same age as Will, kneels behind him on the mattress, sitting on his heels, and entirely naked.

Will can't help but take in the vision he makes, his skin a golden tan, sun-kissed and glistening in the light filtering through a sky-light above the bed. His hair is thick and gold-blond, curling up behind his ears before turning to small ringlets further back, and his body … Will gulps, his asshole twitching with _need_, and making him want to dissolve into nothingness, to just sink through the mattress and not _be_anymore.

Apollo doesn't seem to like the direction his thoughts are going, and shakes his head, though he doesn't look disappointed, more worried, and even a little bit like he gets it, like he's been there.

"What now?" Will asks, hearing his own voice reverberate back at him and bizarrely, comfort him in the knowledge nobody else heard the fear in the question. Another wave of desire crashes through him, his face burning up. He closes his eyes and waits for it to pass. If only ignoring his arousal would make it go away.

Apollo shifts until he's sitting beside Will's shoulder, as the intensity mellows enough that Will thinks he can handle seeing again. He watches as Apollo leans back on a small pile of pillows, his arms up, and rests the back of his head in his palms. Will drops his eyes and takes in Apollo's legs: long and muscular like the male ballet dancers Will can't get enough of watching when the rec room television is free.

Apollo lifts an eyebrow, and wrinkles his forehead. "Now I'm all yours. You have my complete and entire attention." His lips smirk. "Not many people can claim that, Will. Only my few rare and precious pearls." He winks.

Will flushes from the top of his head all the way to the tips of his toes. His cock throbs again, his balls so tight he's afraid they'll burst. He releases a shaky breath, trying to cover it with a nervous sort of laugh.

"You're my dad," Will says, and then clears his throat. He whispers. "I think I must be sick. I look at you and I …"

Apollo sucks in a deep breath, and Will swears he can feel the god bolstering his power, charging himself like a battery, the tension between them thick enough to cut, and then Apollo moves. He flips himself over and covers Will's body with his own, then fastens their lips together and breaths out, filling Will up with that same charge. It rushes into Will's throat, up into his sinuses, back down to his lungs, and further, waking every cell, every hidden part of Will's being until he's saturated with it.

And then, there's Apollo's tongue, moving against Will's and Will moves his to meet it, to devour Apollo's kisses. Will's mind scatters. All the worries, the fears, the judgements blow away, replaced with a sensation of rightness, of _good_. Apollo's breath, his kiss, his divinity fills up the empty pit in Will's heart and smoothes it over with pure pleasure.

Apollo lifts his head a fraction, breaking the kiss, but not backing off, and Will looks up at him, glassy eyed, aroused to a new high, where he crests on the ache and doesn't fight it. "You said you wanted to come with me," Apollo breathes, his voice playing Will's heartstrings like a harp, leaving his body thrumming.

It takes Will a moment to process what he'd heard. _Come with me?_ He wrinkles his nose on one side. "Seriously? You're playing with puns now?"

Even if he sounds like a kid groaning at a 'dad joke', he chuckles. There is nothing, _nothing_ Will wants more than to come with Apollo. He stops laughing and licks his lips, then nods.

Apollo grins, his teeth flashing white, his pupils blown so wide with arousal hardly any blue stands out around them. Apollo shifts his hips, and Will realizes exactly what position they're in. He makes a mewling sound as Apollo's cock nudges between his thighs, his underwear vanished, and then bumps up behind his balls.

Will wraps his arms around Apollo's back, holding onto his shoulder blades while Apollo fucks between Will's thighs, supported on his hands, practically doing push ups.

"God," Will cries, and Apollo chuckles, but Will's so far gone he doesn't acknowledge Apollo's humor. "Fuck my ass. Please. Fill me up and and make me yours." He's beyond caring how desperate that sounds, how needy. He _wants_, and he's honestly asking for Apollo to meet his needs.

Apollo's eyes appear to smoulder, his pupils eclipsing the blue and shining beyond, lit from behind as if by the sun, burning with its heat. The intensity is overwhelming, and Will wonders if he should try and take back his words, but then … No. He's standing by them. Apollo said Will had his full attention, had called him precious. Will moves his hands down to Apollo's ass, and then squeezes his cheeks. He bucks his dripping cock upward, seeking friction against Apollo's abs.

If Apollo isn't going to respond to his plea, then Will will take whatever he can get to meet his needs himself. He shifts his hips, moving his legs apart and open kneed. He pushes his ass back against Apollo's hard cock, where it's lodged behind his balls. If he can just open up a little bit more, Apollo's cock will touch Will's hole.

Apollo chuckles, rumbling laughter deep in his chest, and Will's attention moves to the firm brown nipples before his eyes. He wonders if a god's nipples are as sensitive as a mortal's.

He brings his hand up to his mouth, pausing to see if Apollo will move, and then wets his fingertips and brushes them over each nipple in turn.

Apollo's chuckling turns to a low keening moan, and the head of Apollo's cock bump finally bumps up against Will's hole. Will keeps at it, his other hand getting in on the action, pinching, flicking, twisting the nubs on Apollo's chest until the god finally starts to roll his hips.

Will gasps again, and spreads his legs wider as the bumping turns to nudging. The more he tugs on Apollo's nipples, the closer he gets to being breached. No matter what, he isn't a masochist. Will doesn't want to be taken dry, but he also doesn't want to stop, doesn't want to remind Apollo that assholes are not self-lubricating.

Will places his full palms over Apollo's pecs gripping them, pulling at them with sweaty suction. Apollo groans and pushes his hips forward, the head of his cock slipping inside Will and taking his breath away. But it's not bad at all. Apollo jerks his hips erratically, the blunt head slipping in and out, sending Will's nerves into a frenzy with wet, squelchy sounds.

_Gods of Olympus,_ Will swears inside his own mind, realization dawning. Apollo came on his hole, used it as lubrication, and then finished inside him. Will's thighs tremble, and then shake. He looks down as a long strand of milky pre-come falls from the tip of his dick, his slit swollen, gaping like it's blowing kisses.

"Please," Will whines. He looks up at Apollo's face, at his blue eyes full of awe, and it startles Will. He hadn't expected to render a god speechless.

Apollo finally seems to regain control of himself, to recall what he's doing, and he nods at Will, then sinks his still hard cock in deeper. Will hisses through his teeth, sucking in a long breath, his ass stretched further than it ever has been. Will had only ever been brave enough to explore his ass using his fingers. Apollo's cock, when Will saw it, has his fingers beat in girth by a lot.

Will feels like he's melting. Apollo has him stuffed and held in place while Will's muscles relax and sink into pure bliss. His thoughts loud in his own mind.

_Inside me. My father. The power of the sun is inside me. He claimed me. He wants me._

Apollo sinks in as deep as he can at the angle they're in, and then holds onto Will's shoulders with firm hands. "C'mon, sweetheart. I need you up here."

Will's lips twitch at being called sweetheart, but it touches him deeply. He's worried for so long his heart was dysfunctional, that it was poisoned. And Apollo, famous for speaking the truth, even when it hurts, had declared Will's heart sweet.

Will holds onto Apollo's arms as Apollo pulls him upright, then shifts, supporting Will's ass with his hands, holding him close in his lap. Will huffs, breathing short and fast, fucked so full his lungs seem to have diminished room in his chest.

"You with me, Kiddo?" Apollo murmurs, brushing his lips along the line of Will's jaw.

"Yeah," he says, his voice more breath than vocal vibration. He swallows, staring into Apollo's eyes. The blue is back and Will falls into it. He wouldn't mind sinking into Apollo's eyes and living there.

And then Apollo grips Will's cock, coaxing it back to full hardness, and rocking his hips gently so his thrusts are simultaneously deep and shallow. It's enough though. Will's been ramped up to the point of coming so many times, and stopped, refusing to touch. Now, the sensation of the head of Apollo's cock, slipping in and out of his foreskin inside Will, the ridge brushing over Will's prostate with each shallow pull back and thrust forward, he's going to come.

Apollo works Will's dick with his fingers, fucking it between them, then rubbing over the head with Will's foreskin and Apollo's pre-come-slicked palm. He holds the head like a knob, his grip loose, but each time he thrusts up inside Will, Will's cock jumps and hits the soft surface of Apollo's palm, rubbing it right.

Rising higher, his balls tight, Will finds Apollo's lips with his mouth and latches on, needing the anchor of his father's tongue, the tickle against the roof of his mouth. It's almost too much all at once, and Will's not sure he _can_ stay present long enough to climax.

Apollo moves, trailing wet kisses over Will's cheek and then nibbling his earlobe. "Come for me, sweetheart. I'll catch you."

Will pushes back as Apollo thrusts forward, spurting his release like a fucking fountain, an overwhelming geyser of relief spilling free. Thrumming like a plucked lyre string, pure pleasure pull him under until he slumps against Apollo's neck. Apollo holds Will close while he slips into the land of dreams. 

When Will wakes again, he expects to find himself back in the Apollo cabin at Camp Half-Blood, but he's still with Apollo. His cheek is cushioned by Apollo's chest, his back supported in a warm hug by Apollo's arm.

"Morning, kiddo," Apollo murmurs, turning back to his newspaper. **Olympus Daily**, Will reads blurry-eyed.

He blinks the sleep from his eyes and runs his hand down Apollo's wrist where it rests on his waist. Something tickles the back of his hand, soft, light, and he turns and looks over his shoulder.

Asleep beside him, facedown on the bed, is Zephyros, god of the West Wind, naked but for the russet-colored wings folded against his back. The one nearest Will twitches and sends a flurry of fluffy down wafting toward Will.

Will isn't sure how he feels about it. He wonders if this is how Apollo plans to introduce him to his new partner? As far as Will knows Apollo has never actually taken a partner, though he's always wanted one. But, Zephyr?

Will turns back to find Apollo watching him, his godly face a little flushed.

"You have something you want to tell me, _Dad_?" Will asks, though he's teasing. He knows _he_ couldn't be enough to satisfy a god, that Apollo would likely want Will to keep quiet about last night. Honestly, Will feels okay with that, and no one needs to know about it. It's a family affair, he thinks to himself.

Zephyros groans. "That's a horrible pun, Sun Baby," the wind god says, drawing out the word horrible like it pains him.

Will lifts an eyebrow at Apollo. "I thought you hated this guy." He turns back to Zephyr with narrowed eyes. "You can read my mind?"

Zephyros yawns as he lifts his head. He blinks. "What? Oh... No. It's just obvious. He waves his hand vaguely at Will's face, then at Apollo's. "Spitting image, and all that. And this asshole is the worst punner ever."

Apollo looks across Will at the wind god with shifty eyes. "Punner isn't even a word."

Zephyr sticks out his tongue and Will can't help but feel the heat rippling between them when he's lying right there. Then a shiver of arousal chases up his spine.

"What?" he asks, feeling pinned in place by two pairs of godly eyes at once.

"Sweetheart," Apollo says, then runs his hand up Will's left calf to the hinge of his thigh and Zephyros does the same with his right leg. "I'm not nearly finished with you. Trust me?"

Will swallows, and nods slowly.

"What about me?" Zephyros asks, his voice melodic and teasing. With his black hair and red wings, his skin bronzed three shades darker than Apollo's, Will has a feeling he's about to get an education he never knew he craved.

Will nods his head, and then holds on tight. It's going to be a bumpy ride.


	33. Chapter 33

Remember - (Solangelo) AU - Rated T

XxxX

Prince Nico gazes down from his bedroom window as the rain batters the practice field and turns his only outlet into a swamp. He scowls at the idea it will likely take a week of good weather to dry it out again and by then, he'll have died from sheer boredom.

He pictures himself, forgotten in the window seat, slowly decaying until he's only a skeleton before anybody notices he's missing.

He tells himself he doesn't care, tries to think of the guilt his father would feel after he realized what had happened, and then he tries to think of something else before he starts getting weepy. The truth, he realizes, is that his father would probably just sweep his whole existence under the rug, never mention him again, and really, who is there that would even care to ask?

_That's my fault,_ the small voice in the back of his mind says. Intrusive thoughts, they call it. He'd learned the term when he was bored and looked the phenomenon up. _I pushed them all away. That's why he stopped bringing people around. That's why he doesn't care. What sort of a king would want a son who refuses to socialize. All I have is swordplay and now, I don't even have that._

He leans the back of his head against the stone masonry. It is true, he thinks. Over the years his father had taken an interest in making sure he was looked after. Nico had governesses, and fighting instructors. Sometimes they'd bring their own children along for him to play with, but always, as soon as he got attached, they'd leave. It wasn't ever on good terms. His father would fire them when he'd discover they have connections to somebody he didn't approve of. One ran off and eloped with a knight; another joined a convent; another, his favorite, died while traveling to see him. Bianca had only been on the road that night because of him, had only gone away for the purpose of bringing him a special gift, a hard-to-find mythological figurine from a neighboring kingdom. He'd destroyed his entire collection when he heard she was gone, and then refused any and all attempts to replace her.

He didn't need or want a tutor. He was proficient enough to learn on his own from books, and there's probably a million of them in the castle library. He'd refused all offers to train with a sword master. Instead, he trained himself on the field with the knights, disguised as a page boy, and without his father's knowledge.

His pulse races, his skin heating up when he realizes he's back at square one. There's no way he'll be able to resume the duplicity after being away for as long as it takes the field to dry. He wonders what would happen if _he_ ran off and tried to get a page position in another kingdom.

"Prince Nico?"

Nico smacks his head against the wall as a voice startles him. He misjudges the edge of the window seat and falls, landing hard on his side, a sharp pain shooting up the length of his sword arm.

He roars, clutching his injured wrist to his chest as he jumps to his feet, then whips around to glare at the intruder. He blinks. Crap, he knows this person, sort of, by sight anyway. He's one of the newly knighted members of the court. Maybe if he …

Nico's mind spins, dislodging his thoughts as the man crosses the room in practically two steps and takes his arm, his forehead creased with concern. His overgrown curly hair is so golden blond, Nico almost wonders if it might actually be gilded. It takes him a moment to catch up with what the man is saying to him.

"I didn't realize you hadn't heard me knock. I'm so sorry, Prince Nico." He turns Nico's hand over with his palm, supporting Nico's arm with his other hand. "Can you move your fingers?"

The man stares at his injured arm with such focus, Nico almost wonders if he isn't a healer. But that's ridiculous. What knight would study a subject beneath his title? Nico squashes the inner voice that reminds him that that is precisely what Nico prefers to do himself.

He huffs a breath through his nose. No. He's not going to be interested in this person. He will _not_ encourage conversation. He'll do whatever it takes to get the man to go away, and to know he's not welcome back again.

Nico wiggles his fingers.

"Good," the man croons, his voice sending sparks of heat shooting down Nico's spine. "Now, I'm going to push your wrist back. Tell me as soon as it starts to hurt. I'll stop. Okay?"

Nico furrows his eyebrows and jerks his head in a sharp nod. "There!" he gasps, his eyes stinging against his will.

The man nods gravely and shifts, so he's supporting Nico's arm draped along the length of his own, then reaches into a small pouch at his hip and pulls out a bandage. He starts binding Nico's wrist.

Too gobsmacked to put up resistance, Nico just watches, listening as the man recites instructions at him: something about not using his hand to lift until the pain recedes, to limit the weight he does lift for a time after that, to wear it bound to his chest for the first couple of days so he isn't tempted to use it accidentally.

The man has a pleasant-sounding voice. The way he talks to Nico, so familiar, so kind, and plain unassuming is a novel experience. Nico's surprised he hasn't already lashed out and sent the man running for the hills. He stifles a chuckle when he realizes it's because the aura this man carries reminds Nico of a young housecat; it would be cruel to scare him.

"That should do it," the man says at last, and releases his hold on Nico. Nico's injured arm hangs in a sling across his chest and he doesn't feel any pain. "What's so funny?"

Nico clears his throat. "Nothing," he says, then shivers. He's cold now that the man isn't touching him. He hasn't noticed a chill in ages. He frowns. It is this man's fault Nico was injured in the first place. He really ought to set about telling him off for it, but stops himself as the voice in his mind reminds him the man apologized profusely, and then tended the injury. Deciding to overlook the slight to his physical wellness, Nico calls up his agitation to use any other means to send the man away. "Who are you anyway? Why did you come to my room uninvited?"

The man frowns, looking a little hurt.

Nico has to force himself to not let up on his attitude because of that. He's not so easy to manipulate.

"I'm Will Solace," the man says, pressing on. "I thought you might recognize me from the sparring field."

_Shit!_ Nico doesn't blink an eye as he rejects the notion.

"I am not involved with training new knights. I'm afraid you are mistaken."

The look of disbelief that crosses Solace's face fuels Nico's desire to send him off.

"Impossible," Solace says, a cocky half-smile replacing his frown. "I'd recognize you if you dressed in a monk's habit and attempted to blend in on the village streets, or even if you covered your hair with a net and donned a maiden's clothes and apron in order to move freely about the kitchens."

Nico freezes where he stands, still as a statue. He's never told a living soul about his habit of going where he pleases, donning any and all manner of disguise in order to pull it off, and yet, Solace just named two exact circumstances where Nico had done just that. His nostrils flare at the sight of merriment twinkling in Solace's impossibly blue eyes. His hand twitches in his sling, itching to break free and draw his sword, which is not currently on his person.

"Did my father hire you for this? To follow me around, spying on my activities? Who set you up to it?" He seethes with an icy rage, his eyes, he's sure, going dark and penetrating in the fashion he uses to intimidate people into backing off.

Solace holds his hands up, palms forward, and shakes his head. His eyebrows lift so his eyes appear round and innocent. "No. I swear that nobody has put me up to anything, and I'm not spying on you on purpose. I'm not following you around or anything like that."

Nico narrows his eyes, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. "Why are you here?" he demands instead. He'd stomp his foot and rage and scream if Solace was anything like the other people who have tried and failed to pull Nico out of his isolation in the past. But something about him tells Nico he'd waste his energy doing that with Solace, that the man would find a way to turn him around and upside down until he was laughing instead of raging were he to try it.

Solace hums for a moment as if he's carefully choosing his words, then turns and holds out his arm, hooked at the elbow. "Walk with me. I'll tell you."

How is he supposed to respond to that? This non-aggressive, casual excuse to be touched by that warm arm again.

Which is how Nico finds himself walking the dark and imposing corridors of his father's castle, the rain battering the windows, and feeling, on the inside, as if spring has just arrived.

XxxX

"There aren't many people around," Solace observes as they hit the end of the West corridor. They turn and start walking the south.

"Yeah," Nico says. His throat feels rusty. He hasn't talked so much in a month as he has in the past hour walking with Solace. He swallows. "After my mother died, he, my father, just … sent most of the staff away. He said he wanted to minimize the pressures on his time."

Saying that, confessing such a personal piece of his past …Nico stops walking. He realizes he's still holding on to Solace's arm and lets it go, then steps back a pace. He stares at Solace's face, wondering what kind of magic the man is working. Solace's expression falls and he looks down at the arm Nico released. Nico's instinct is to grab onto it again, to apologize for letting go. This urge is _not_ like him.

Then Solace looks back up and Nico meets his eyes. They're alone in this wing. It's been closed off forever, but that's never stopped Nico from roaming it whenever he feels like it. The look in Solace's eyes, the gaze he fixes Nico with sends shivers running up and down Nico's whole body, almost like a ghost had wafted through him. The silence thrums around them until it's almost noisy: intense.

"I never answered your question," Solace murmurs. His voice warms Nico up again, the soft resonance.

"What question?" Nico asks, not sure they're even having the same conversation. It's been so long since he's talked to somebody. It feels like ages. And really, he didn't realize how starved for attention he had been. He never knew how much he needed it. But just standing here, looking at each other, almost as if they're both afraid to look away because the moment will end.

"Why I knew about your disguises. Why I came to your room."

The moment screeches to a halt, reality reengaging. But Nico doesn't have it in him to dredge up the indignation from earlier. Indignation, boredom, loneliness … all of it drains his energy and saps his strength. He's still buzzing on the high he'd gained from not thinking about it.

Nico glances up and down the long corridor. He's freezing. He looks back at Solace, dwelling momentarily on the man's name before shaking the thought off. He'll ponder it later.

He steps back in line with Solace and slips his free arm into place, linked with Solace's arm. "It's cold. Let's go back and warm up. You can tell me then."

Solace nods. His lips quiver. He's smiling, but it almost looks like he's trying to not break into a grin.

Nico's lips do the same thing.

XxxX

After they get back to Nico's room, Solace stokes the fire and Nico sits at the small table before the hearth, where he takes his meals. He stares at the curve of Solace's back. Lower down, his cheeks grow hot at the sight of Solace's trousers stretched taut over his ass while he balances on the balls of his feet.

The little voice inside Nico's head, the judgement voice is strangely silent and Nico doesn't worry about where it went. It can stay gone for all he cares. Solace has an attractive ass, and when it's right there before him, Nico decides he can look if he wants to.

When Solace stands up and turns around, Nico finally looks away. As he focuses on the tabletop, Solace pulls the chair on the opposite side. There are only two chairs for dining in his room; he's only ever used the one he's sitting in. And then Solace throws him off a little bit more, sending his heart into a weird sort of drum beat. He moves the chair and sits in it on Nico's left side, his face to the fire. He places his hand beside Nico's on the table, not touching, but close enough Nico feels the hair on his arm stand up.

Nico's stomach growls. It's loud. His cheeks heat up all over again.

Solace offers him a shifty smile, one eyebrow raised. "When's the last time you ate? I can run and fetch something from the kitchen if you'd like."

Where does this guy even come from? Nico wonders. He huffs a short laugh and shakes his head. "It's fine. I'll ring for them to bring something up. Do you …" Gods, he sucks at this … Some prince he makes, stuttering over a simple question. _Oh, lovely. The judgement voice is back._ He closes his eyes a moment and makes a deliberate effort to push it back down. Then he looks back at Solace from under his overgrown bangs. "Do you want to eat … uh, with me?"

Solace flashes him a bright smile and rubs the back of his neck absently. Nico wonders if it's possible Solace is actually nervous too. "I'd like that."

Great. Now Nico has something to focus on, other than trying not to get lost in Solace's eyes: a guy he really doesn't know anything about, a _guy_. It's probably best not to assume anything, and to not reveal more than he can handle. Nico stands up. "Just give me a sec." He crosses the room to a row of iron knobs labeled with functions of the castle. He pulls the knob that reads **kitchen** twice, then returns to the table.

"So," Nico says, taking his seat. "Want to get this out of the way? Your answers? They'll be bringing two trays, so it's probably best I don't have a knife handy if what you're going to say will set me off."

Solace busts out laughing, his cheeks pink with mirth. It makes freckles Nico hadn't noticed before stand out. He raises an eyebrow and waits for Solace to get a handle on himself. "Sorry," Solace says, then clears his throat. "I like your sense of humor."

Nico only smirks, thinking wryly to himself that he didn't say it to be funny.

"Yes," Solace says at last. "I am ready." Then he stops talking and a hush falls over the table. The fire continues to crackle behind them so the quiet doesn't really get uncomfortable. It just _is_. A long couple of moments later, he starts up again. "Thing is, this might sound a little crazy. Will you hear me out? Please? To the end?"

Nico narrows his eyes. The whole conversation feels a lot shadier than he would like, but at least he's not bored. He nods, and then waits for Solace to continue.

"Okay," Solace says, breathing out. "I've met you before. A long time ago. Uh, we didn't part company on good terms."

Nico nods again, wracking his brains to recall meeting this guy before. Not on good parting terms is something Nico is well versed in. It doesn't help jog his memory. Solace goes on.

"Anyway, when I turned nineteen, I decided I was finally old enough to make my own decisions, you know? To leave my father's house and, sort of test my metal. I heard your father was taking on a few new Knights and, really, I wanted to see you again. Wanted to explain that … Gods. Why is this so hard?" He stops talking again and pulls another bandage strip out of his hip pouch, then fiddles with it on the tabletop.

Nico holds up his left hand, listening. "Wait a moment. I think the food's here."

Solace nods and exhales loudly as if relieved to be able to pause.

Nico answers the door, pausing for a full half a minute after hearing the waitstaff knock. The page who delivers his meals has already left. Nico has the entire staff trained well. He frowns at the thought, and then shakes it off and pushes the dinner cart in with his free hand.

Solace jumps up to help when he sees Nico struggle, and then rolls the cart over to the table. "Do you want me to finish explaining before we start, or to finish while we eat?"

Nico spots his plea to procrastinate from a mile away, but he's not going to let it go this time. "While we eat," he says. "Can I ask you to move the trays?" he flaps his bound elbow and Solace sighs, then nods.

After they're set up with bowls of hot stew, a loaf of bread, and Solace pours wine into each of their goblets, Nico catches sight of the bandage Solace had been playing with dangling from his hip. He points at it with his chin, then stirs his stew with his spoon. "You trained in healing?"

Solace looks down and hastily stuffs the bandage back into his pouch, then takes his seat. "Yeah. It's kind of my dad's deal. Well, not only healing … He has this philosophy of living a well rounded life. I had lessons in _everything_ growing up. Hardly any time to myself at all."

Solace doesn't sound thrilled by his father's philosophy. Nico half wonders what it would be like if his father had tried to do something like that. He'd probably hate it too, but he's not really very happy having had little to no structure either. "You were talking about knowing me before, being pretty vague about it," Nico reminds him. He takes a mouthful of his stew. It warms him instantly and he's suddenly very aware of just how hungry he is. "Said you wanted to explain something…"

"Yeah," Solace says. "I kinda hoped … I dunno. That my vague hints would have jogged your memory. But I can do it. It'll be fine." He stirs his own stew absently, while Nico wolfs his down.

Finished, Nico takes a long draught from his goblet and feels satisfied. Food tastes good when he bothers to notice. He makes a mental note to do that more often.

"Look, Nico," Solace says, then surprises Nico by taking his hand. Solace's palm is warm and and really, rather perfect. The wine and the food, the touch and the company, the heat of the fire – Nico smiles at Solace, his eyes half-lidded. He likes the way his name sounds in Solace's voice. "We kind of … had a … a thing together. We were really young, like, twelve? I was only here for a few weeks, but …"

And memories start coming back. Really awesome ones. Whispered conversations in the dark, side by side on sleeping pallets meant for travel; swimming in the river, and then sunning themselves on a huge boulder; ending up sunburned and taking turns slathering each other with Aloe, and then … Nico flushes. "Will?"

Will Solace. Nico had never bothered to learn his last name. That was the summer before Bianca … before a lot dark times. Will's hand on his seems to heat up, and Nico has the urge to move even closer. They hadn't parted on good terms because Nico's governess caught them kissing behind the stables. She'd raised a ruckus and separated them, then sent Nico's father into a flying rage when the entire staff was talking about it. He'd fired them all and replaced them with immigrants. Will was sent away and Nico had never understood why, and the couple of friends he'd had were children of the staff. Bianca was the only new person Nico connected with, and in an effort to cheer him up, she'd died in an accident.

He'd pretty much buried the whole thing and chosen not to think about it, decided not feel anymore. Feelings hurt too much.

"I wanted to tell you that it counted to me. We'd talked about kissing, how only grown ups do it when they get married …"

"And I asked if that meant it didn't count if two boys did it." Nico flushes again at his childish attempt to get his best friend to kiss him. But Will had, and …

"Yeah. We never settled that. I want to settle it now … It counted to me."

Nico's whole body feels floppy, like he's melting, like his bones are made of butter. Without realizing it, he leans in toward Will, drawn to him like a magnet, and somehow Will does the same.

They pause, faces and lips an inch apart. Nico's eyelids fall heavily as he breathes in Will's breath on his cheeks. It meant something to him too, and he lets Will know by closing the distance and pressing their lips together.

There's possibility in Will's kisses, in his returned fervor.

As for what happens next, Nico decides he'll let the cards fall where they will and can't wait to find out how they do.


	34. Chapter 34

Twice Baked Bros - (Solangelo) (Jercy) - Rated M

Content Warning - dubious use of medicinal marijuana, PTSD

XxxX

_Boom!_

A high pitched scream.

Will's eyes snap open and he sits up so fast, he smacks his head against the top bunk.

"Owwww." He rubs the top of his head, grimacing as the sounds of frantic whispering tells him the rest of the Apollo cabin is now awake despite the time. These are the joys of being head counselor. He throws back his sheet and blanket and sits on the side of his bunk, searching the floor with his feet for his flip-flops.

A flash of blue lights up the cabin through the front window, and he catches the fearful looks on his siblings' faces before it winks out again. He sighs. Third time this week. He gets to his feet as the walls shake and another loud boom crashes outside.

"Quiet down," he mutters, walking to the door. "I'll deal with this. Stay in bed."

As soon as he opens the door, a sneaker wave of lake water smashes the front of the cabin, and washes him out, leaving him sprawled on the floor as it recedes. His heart thunders in his ribs, his annoyance nearing breaking point.

XxxX

It takes Chiron, Will, and a lot of work rousing the Hypos campers to get Percy, Jason, and Nico to wake up, stop abusing their powers in their sleep, and to put them out for the rest of the night, consigned to the Hypnos cabin.

Will yawns and rests his head on his arms on the desk in Chiron's office. He doesn't have a choice. The Big Three pains in the asses have to be dealt with and as the head healer behind Chiron, Will has to stay awake until a decision is made.

He's almost asleep again when the whirring sound of Chiron's electric wheelchair announces the Centaur's arrival. Will lifts his head. It feels heavy on his neck as Chiron wheels past him and situates himself at the desk opposite Will. His frown is deeply etched, though the effect is lessened by the presence of a half dozen pink hair curlers in his beard.

"So," Will says, yawning again. "What's the verdict?"

Chiron drums his fingers on the desktop and then slips his hand into the satchel attached to the side of his chair. "Dionysus is ready to tear his hair out over these three. His suggested solution – after I dismissed banishing the three of them to the Lotus Casino – is controversial, yet, as a healer I agree it may be the most effective treatment with the least potential for harm. At least until we're able to get through to Asclepius or Apollo for advice." He pulls a vial out of the satchel and places it upon the desk. "You're familiar with the herb cannabis?"

Will blinks his sleep-squinty eyes to focus. The vial is pretty large and contains about four ounces of a dark brown mixture atop what looks like cooking oil. He wrinkles his forehead and looks back up at Chiron. "Pot?"

Chiron nods, the lines around his eyes etched deeper than usual, making him look exhausted. Dionysus recommends baking it into brownies and feeding them each a measured dose until you determine efficacy." He pulls a small scroll out of the satchel and hands it to Will. "The dosing instructions are here, and you can pick up a box of brownie mix in the hall pantry.

Will hides the half-grin spreading over his lips behind his hand. "You realize that as soon as they find out about this, Percy won't be able to keep his mouth shut, Jason will flip out and freak that he'll get addicted, and Nico ..." He pauses, imagining Nico on pot. "Actually, Nico would probably do just fine. He seems to be improving already though. I didn't run into any zombies tonight."

Chiron harrumphs. "That's because they were terrorizing the row of new cabins." He sighs wearily and rubs his eyes with a pinched forefinger and thumb. Then he looks back at Will, dropping his hand. "I don't want you to tell them about the herb. Corral them in one of their cabins for the next few nights, I want you supervising their doses. Let me know how it goes."

Will imagines how that conversation will go down and cringes. Nico will pitch a fit about being moved from his cabin; he'll be all tied up in knots about having to share a sleeping space with Percy. Even though he claims he's totally over it, Will knows how old crushes tend to make things weird, especially when you're hanging out with your current partner and the old crush. Still, if he explains the Lotus Casino is Dionysus's back up plan, he thinks Nico will be convinced.

Too tired for any more thinking, Will nods his understanding and slips the vial and the scroll into his doctor's bag. He's got three hours tops before the sun comes up and longs for his bed.

Chiron dismisses him with a wave of his hand. As Will leaves the office he thinks he hears the Centaur swear he's too old for this shit.

XxxX

Explaining the plan to Nico, Percy, and Jason at the Hades table after lunch in the dining pavilion goes about as well as Will expects it to. Nico broods silently next to him, while Percy and Jason bump fists across from them.

"Right on," Percy says. "Slumber party with the bros!"

"Thing is," Jason interjects, screwing up his forehead in thought. "How's it going to help our, you know … problem with our powers? I mean, I'm all for hanging out with you guys, but having us all in one place …"

Will has thought out different scenarios and answers to possible questions already, so he cuts Jason off. "Chiron and Mr. D say it's actually better if you're all in one room. I'll be able to wake you up before you go into super-power mode if I can monitor you directly. It's only for a few nights to see if it helps; if it doesn't, we'll reevaluate and try something else. Maybe get Clovis to crash in there too."

"Then you'd be affected and the whole project fails," Nico grumbles, speaking for the first time. It sends a pleasant shiver through Will to hear Nico's voice, though he can't help smirk at Percy and Jason's minute startled responses. "Why does it have to be in _my_ cabin?"

Will's planned his response for this question as well. He slips an arm around Nico's waist, sensing Nico's instinct to snuggle closer, then realizing Percy and Jason are watching him, and forcing himself to not show a reaction. "Because I thought I'd bake brownies to sweeten the deal, and your cabin is the only one with a kitchen."

"What?" Percy demands, shocked. "How come you get a kitchen in your cabin?"

Will feels Nico relax, preening, though he'd never admit it, at having Percy want something that he has. "Because my cabin was built recently," he starts, then drops his voice. "And because Mr. D insisted. I think my dad talked to him."

Percy just nods, like the explanation makes perfect sense to him and Will catches the flash of understanding in Jason's eyes. After his stint in Tartarus and then being confined to the jar, Nico's eating habits cycle from pretty good to not at all. Fortunately nobody mentions it.

The other thing nobody mentions, Will thinks as Percy and Jason say their farewells and head to the sparring fields, is the fact they are still here. Their experiences during the war took a while before manifesting in PTSD symptoms, but once they did, they couldn't blend in with the mortal world and Dionysus agreed to take them back if Zeus would agree to halve his sentence again.

For being the biggest dickhead god there is, Zeus apparently cares enough about Jason to have agreed.

Nico slips his hand onto Will's thigh and rests his head on Will's chest when he's sure nobody's watching. "You gonna crawl into bed with me if I have a nightmare?"

Will grins. They're seventeen and always horny; what's he supposed to do? "You know I'll crawl into bed with you any chance I can get. He gives Nico's arm a squeeze. "But I suggest you reinstall Hazel's privacy curtain unless you want to risk them seeing us."

He can feel Nico screw up his face. "Consider it done."

XxxX

Thankfully, Will manages to catch a couple of hours of sleep in the infirmary before the night of the big experiment. He catches up with Nico after dinner and they retreat to the Hades cabin so Will can bake the promised brownies.

Nico seems to have spent the day since lunch hiding his valuables and preparing his cabin for guests. He's given the privacy curtain a makeover. It's now painted with Day of the Dead dancing skeletons and even though Nico insists he's not interested in interior design, he's got an undeniable talent for it.

Having chucked the coffin shaped bunks originally installed, Nico chose to furnish the Hades cabin with four full-sized Murphy beds. Three are usually folded up into the wall to create more space to move around, but now they're all pulled out and made up with fluffy white pillows and duvets. In addition to the small kitchen tucked in the back corner, the Hades cabin has a private bathroom, and after Nico explained to his father – perhaps embellishing a little bit – that the best way to help Nico fit in with modern teenagers was to give him money.

Will smirks. If anything, Nico knows how to get what he wants out of his father, though as the only son of the god of wealth, it would reflect poorly on Hades to not make sure Nico was provided for. And that might be another reason Will thought the Hades cabin would work better for the experiment: Nico had two new cozy leather sofas and a widescreen television set, a gift for running an errand for Hades.

It takes ten minutes making out against the wall for Will to wind Nico up to the point of needing relief. And as much as he'd love to provide it himself, he's got to find a way to get Nico out of the room while he doctors the brownie batter.

"Mmm, Will," Nico murmurs, as Will stops kissing his neck, and starts trying to calm down. "We've got time. Campfire should go another hour."

Will groans. "Yeah, but I've got to get the brownies in the oven. If I don't they'll eat the batter and end up sick from the raw eggs in it."

Nico huffs through his nose, but it does seem to convince him. "Fine," he grouses, adjusting the front of his pants.

"Tell you what," Will says, pulling away and taking half a step back, though he still holds onto Nico's waist. He slips his hand down and squeezes Nico's butt. "Why don't you go and shower. Think about me and tell me about it tonight?"

Nico closes his eyes, his lips parting, and gods if Will isn't tempted to just try to figure out another method of dosing them so he can shower too. But that's really irresponsible. He's already pushing Chiron's trust in him by flaunting the camp rules and screwing around with Nico whenever he gets a chance, doing it and messing up a medical treatment would be bad.

"Okay," Nico breathes. "I'm going to be loud so you know what you're missing, choosing baked goods over me."

Will grins, then smacks Nico's ass as he passes on the way to the bathroom.

XxxX

Fortunately, the brownies are quick to make and bake, especially as Mr. D had prepared the oil and cannabis in advance, and Nico takes long showers. Will pulls the pan out of the fridge where he'd stuck it to cool faster and cuts half of the tray into squares, then stashes them in a cupboard so nobody accidentally consumes too much. The remaining brownies he transfers to another plate to cool on the counter.

A loud knock sounds at the door and Will pops his head around the pillar partitioning the kitchen from the rest of the cabin as Jason and Percy invite themselves in. They've each got a backpack slung over a shoulder and are still dressed in camp clothes.

"Ah, man. It smells awesome in here," Percy says.

Jason follows quickly with, "What the heck? How'd Nico score all this luxury for the Hades cabin?"

Will wipes brownie crumbs off his hands with a dishtowel as Nico comes out of the bathroom, rubbing his hair with a bath towel, another slung around his waist.

"My father has finally figured out the concept of using your wealth to make your son like you. He tosses the towel he'd used to dry his hair into the laundry hamper and then points out the two beds on the outside of his dancing skeleton curtain. "You guys sleep over there. I'm just gonna change." He ducks behind the curtain to change into his boxers and one of Will's hoodies.

Will counts out three brownies and drapes clean dishtowel over the rest, figuring even if any of them came into the kitchen to scavenge for munchies, they'd avoid things that look like they involve cleaning. He can't take notes without being conspicuous so he figures he'd better stay alert to the brownie count.

The sound of the television roaring to life fills the cabin and Will takes a deep breath, and then carries the brownies out, attempting to squash the sensation of foreboding in the pit of his stomach. The idea of doping his friends without their knowledge or consent runs contrary to his healer's intuition, but he convinces himself to do it. Dionysus and Chiron have seniority over him as far as healing and responsibility for the campers' well-being.

He passes the first brownie to Nico as Nico returns from changing. Nico rolls his eyes as if to show his annoyance at having to play host to Percy and Jason, but Will sees through his ruse. Nico's full of energy and Will thinks the novelty of having friends sleep over lends to it. He decides not to lean in and ask for a kiss, respecting Nico's feelings about not doing the 'public displays of affections' thing.

Will carries the plate to the couch Percy and Jason have claimed.

"Dang," Nico exclaims from behind him. "These are really good, Will."

Will flashes the other boys a dazzling smile as they each take a brownie and raise their eyebrows at Nico's enthusiastic response.

So far, so good.

XxxX

Half an hour later, things seem to be working well. Percy and Jason have stopped fighting for control over the remote, and instead stare transfixed at the screen while Jason flips through the channels. Nico relaxes against Will, his inhibitions about getting cozy in front of other people dissolved. He sighs. A happy sound, and then smacks his lips as Percy shouts: "Wait! Go back! Go back! It takes Jason a while to catch on that Percy's talking to him and keeps clicking, turning his head in slow motion to face Percy.

"What?"

"Nah, you've gone too far. Just keep going and stop when I tell you. I saw something."

Jason swivels his head again and slows his clicking down to a crawl, so now the start of random sentences make them laugh as he changes channels.

"Ahhh! There. Stop!" Percy says, though Jason has already stopped.

"Stop what?" Jason smacks his lips too.

"It's Nemo! I love this show."

Nico nods his head in approval. "I agree. Two to three, Jason. We're watching Nem … mo. Neem … o. Nee … mo. That's a fucked up name."

"Is it?" Percy asks. He tries it out and then starts laughing. "It's like, if you say it really fast over and over, it sounds wrong. Nemonemonemoemo … Emo? No, wait. I messed up. Nememeoeoo … neee moh. Nico! Emo Nico!"

Nico shifts like he's going to get up and punch the grin off Percy's face, but then decides it's too much trouble and waves his hand limply instead. "Ehhh …"

Jason stares at the screen. "Look at all that water. Is it just me or is it thirsty in here?"

Percy smacks his lips too. "It _is_ thirsty in here, bro. Don't worry about it. I got your back." He stands up and makes his way to the kitchen.

Will wants to get up and sit Percy back down on the couch, then offer to bring water out to them, but Nico's hand is getting frisky in his lap, despite the fact Nico's eyes are glued to the the television screen and Will's afraid if he says anything, he'll draw attention to, uh, the fact he's now standing at attention.

"Ni-co," Will breathes, keeping his voice as low as he can.

Nico turns and meets his eyes. "Now don't you start."

"Percy!" Jason calls. "He's gonna touch the butt! Hurry or you'll miss it!"

Percy sprints out of the kitchen, sliding in his socks and drops back onto the couch. "Here, man."

"Thanks, bro," Jason answers before they both crack up delighted by the idea the little fish is calling a boat a butt.

"Will?" Nico says, gripping Will's erection so his eyes roll back in his head, then tickling down near his balls.

"Ye-eah?" Will asks.

"You're like Nemo. And … he starts giggling. "And I'm the boat."

Jason and Percy laugh. "He touched your butt?" Jason asks. "Here man. Give him one of these."

Nico trails his fingers back up Will's shaft, popping the snap at his fly and brushing over the tip too softly.

Will groans, and then whimpers. "Ni-co, please."

And then Nico's kissing him and his kisses taste like chocolate. Really good chocolate. Ambrosia quality chocolate. Will bucks his hips, but Nico's hand is gone and he finishes chewing, then swallows, and Nico shoves another bite of chocolate into his mouth, his dark eyes dancing in front of Will's like they're made of the stuff.

He realizes, too late what just happened, and lifts his hand to his face, covering it with his palm. "Oh shit."

Nico smacks his lips again. Then turns to Jason and Percy who don't seem to have noticed Will's state yet or Nico's responsibility for it.

Then Jason darts forward and Percy whips around. "Hey, I was gonna eat that!"

Jason grins around his chocolate-filled mouthful and shrugs as he chews and swallows. "Too bad, bro. That's what happens when you're slow."

Percy glares at Jason and then Will clears his throat. "Uh, Percy, did you forget the water?"

"Huh?" Percy says. Will lifts his hand to his lips, his own mouth going dry. "Oh yeah. You know, Will. The brownies are top notch, but I think you need to go easy on the salt next time."

Will shakes his head. He sucks at lying. If he'd laid it out beforehand, told them what the whole plan was, this wouldn't have happened. He wonders how long it will take before it hits his system. Maybe he'll get lucky and find he's immune.

Percy distracts him as he points out how if Finding Nemo was real life, Jason would be Marlin and he'd be Dory. "And it's totally a bonus that she's blue."

Nico raises his eyebrows, and mumbles more to himself than to Will. "And a she."

Will pats Nico's hand. He might as well not freak out and just try to enjoy the time Nico's in a cuddling mood. "Shhh … You know she's your favorite."

Nico's cheeks turn pink and he doesn't say anything, but Will knows he nailed that guess.

XxxX

Will's brain whirls. He only had two bites, right? or was it three? How long ago was it even? He pauses his brain wondering if this is just a paranoid side effect.

He shakes his head. Crap, the stuff is potent. As long as he doesn't take any more, he reminds himself it should wear off in a few hours. Maybe he can still salvage the experiment. His gut twists at the idea of trying to lie to Chiron.

"Hey! There's more in the cupboard! Score!"

Will snaps to attention, his vision spinning as he whips around to find where Percy went. "Percy, stop!"

It's kind of amusing. Percy freezes comically, with a brownie halfway to his open mouth. He raises his eyebrows as Will tries not to giggle. Then Percy puts the brownie back down. "What?"

And Will remembers. He's going to just tell them. He'll deal with the consequences when they're sober, but he cannot keep up the ruse, even before Nico fed him bites of brownies. "It's pot. They're pot brownies. Don't eat anymore or you'll feel real sick."

Percy backs away from the plate of brownies, one eyebrow raised, his hands twitching like he was afraid a monster was going to jump out of the plate at him.

"Pot?" Jason says, drawing Will's attention. He turns and looks at Jason. If he weren't feeling the drug's effects, he'd probably be bright red with shame, but now, he really can't be bothered. "You mean like the drug? You drudged us? Drug-ded? You know what I mean."

"Wassn't my idea," Will says. He exhales and seems to keep exhaling for a very long time until Nico grabs his chin.

"Well, I'm feeling good and very much not in danger of calling up the undead."

"Yeah," Percy says. "I feel good too. Let's just enjoy it while it lasts." Then he fills up a glass with water and downs it. "Jason, you gotta try this stuff. It's really good."

Jason gets up and joins Percy at the sink. "It's just water."

"Yeah, but. Seriously, try it. You'll see."

Jason takes a long draught too and exclaims on how awesome water actually is, and how had he never noticed before. It's making Will more thirsty just listening to them. "C'mon, Nico," Will says and stands. Nico stares at the television screen.

"This part is so sad. I really feel for that fish."

Will smiles at his snuggled up boyfriend. "Right. I'll be right back. He walks to the kitchen where Percy and Jason are splashing each other in the sink. "Guys, you're hogging the sink."

Percy shuts off the tap and grins, then he screws up his face. "Oh man, I've gotta piss like a hippocampus."

Jason starts. "Hey, me too. Let's do it together. I bet I can piss longer than you can."

"Oh, no way, Grace. You don't even know how full my bladder is."

"Well, my dick's longer."

"You're so full of crap."

They bicker all the way to the bathroom and Will doesn't have it in him to care.

They were right though, about water tasting really really good. He finishes a glass, fills it up again and carries it to Nico.

When he gets back to the couch, Nico's face is red and splotchy and the sight of it almost snaps Will out of his buzz, but not quite. He crouches at Nico's knees, watching as Nico touches his eyelids with his fingers, first one, then the other. "Nico? What's wrong?"

"I feel like crying. He just called the blue fish his son's name. 'Cause she can't do anything right. And I have no tears. My eyeballs are dry, Will."

"It's okay. I have water here." Will hands Nico the glass and Nico drinks it down. Will, watching each swallow and getting hard all over again, wonders if his erection had actually ever gone down. He can't remember.

Nico finishes drinking with a satisfied "Ahhhhh," and Will takes his glass. Nico's eyes are coming nearer him though, which is welcome, but weird, and then Will realizes that _he's_ leaning closer. Then Nico grabs the front of Will's shirt and hauls him onto the couch, pins his back to the the couch back and crawls into his lap, straddling his thighs.

Will meets Nico's lips with a happy moan, tasting Nico's tongue, still cold and wet from the water he'd drunk. Nico doesn't stop kissing. He seems determined to suck Will's lips off, to move his tongue into Will's mouth as a permanent fixture, and it's all Will can do to hold onto Nico's ass, the boxer material so thin it hardly counts as a barrier.

"What? Whoa!" Percy's voice. "Ja-ssssson," he hisses loudly. "Do you see what I'm seeing? Did you know Nico and Will did that?"

Will can't bring himself to not answer Nico's demanding kisses, he waves vaguely to the side with the hand closest to their couch, not liking the fact that waving takes time away from his hand touching Nico's butt. He puts it back and Nico rewards him by grinding down, rubbing their groins together. Will curses the fact he's still wearing jeans because he knows how good it feels when Nico's soft balls cushion the grind against his cock. Like frotting against a pillow, only better.

Percy and Jason's voices pipe up again from off to his right, back on their own couch likely, Will doesn't care. As long as Nico needs him, touches him, they can be as far away as the moon for all it concerns him.

"Told you my dick is longer," Jason says, and Will tries hard to tune it out, but this sort of talk tends to draw his focus. Stoned, he feels almost like he splits into two separate awarenesses, slowing time down so he can take it all in: kissing an unabashed and determined Nico and witnessing the long time simmering bromance lean towards sexual.

"Doesn't count," Percy quips back. "Dicks are all different. We'd have to get hard to get an accurate measure."

They fall silent for a moment, and Will half hopes they've fallen asleep.

"I need it Will," Nico whispers, hardly loud enough for Will to hear even as close as they are. Will gulps. They've not actually gone down the 'all the way path' and Will seriously doesn't want their first time to be under the influence, in the same room as Percy and Jason.

"What?" Will gasps as he pulls back, putting a little distance between their lips.

Nico nods forward, resting his forehead against Will's. "I need to make you come. I want to feel it hit my hand, want to smell it, taste it … you."

And, Gods. Will counts himself lucky for managing to not blow his load over the top of his jeans right there. His heart beats hard, and sounds even louder, thudding in his temple and neck and thundering in his eardrums.

"Yeah," he rasps, his throat and mouth going dry again.

Nico grabs Will's right hand above the wrist, pries it off his butt and moves it between their bodies where Nico's erection juts halfway from the fly in his boxers. Jason and Percy be damned. Will strokes Nico's dick with the pads of his fingers, teasing, featherlight touches, the sort that get Nico right near the edge, but so far are too light to get him off.

Breathing heavily next to Will's ear, Nico slides his hand down to Will's fly and unzips him. He reaches into Will's underwear, and then pushes the front of it down, and tucks the waistband under his balls.

They pause, staring into each other's eyes. Will notice for the first time how bloodshot Nico's eyes actually are. He's only felt the effects of pot once before, back when Pollux was still at camp, and before Nico came to stay on as a regular. They'd smoked it which Will counted as a big mistake, the amount of coughing made him feel like he'd hack up a lung. But he recalls the sensation now. It feels mellower, not quite so high up. He wonders what the experience is like from Nico's point of view.

"You're eyes are red," Nico tells him. "And still blue, but all around the edges."

Will blinks, trying to moisten his eyes. "Sorry –" he starts, but Nico shakes his head.

"I like it. Not the red on it's own, but how loose you are. Like you're made of modeling clay and I can just mold you into whatever position I want. Your eyelids, all heavy like that, makes it feel like I'm the only person you can see."

"Only person I want to see," Will corrects him, and Nico smiles, showing his teeth. His eyes grow even darker, and Will realizes how huge Nico's pupils are. Like dark tunnels, but somehow still warm. Nico pours affection into his gaze which is likely why he's so reluctant to share it with just anybody. Will can't help feeling incredibly honored.

Nico shifts his hips, supporting himself mostly on his right leg and groping between the couch cushions. Will nods, his heart slowing at the sight of the tube Nico brings back with him. A second later Nico squirts lube in his palm and drops the tube next to Will's hand on the cushion.

Will bucks up into Nico's slippery fist, feeling so good, and just plain one with the world.

A soft grunt from the next couch coaxes Will to turn his head, Nico still staring down at where Will's dick pops in and out of his fist, his foreskin retracting and extending.

Will has to bite his lower lip to keep from making noise at the sight greeting him. Jason and Percy, apparently either further under the influence than himself and Nico, or, more likely spurred on by years of subtle teases, likely starting as a joke and then somehow turning real. They've stripped entirely and the amount of naked man on display is something Will would be willing to pay top dollar to witness.

Never being the types to half-ass anything, They hold onto each other, twining legs, twisting arms, tangling tongues. Their kisses more desperate than Will and Nico's. And then Will realizes what they're going to do. He needs to speak up, to stop them before Jason hurts Percy.

Jason pulls back, transfixed at the picture Percy makes, his legs up, knees spread, holding his own ass cheeks open. Will has to force himself to look away lest he become as enraptured as Jason is.

It's so hard to tell with them what's going on in their minds. The way Percy has himself spread open and eager, Will imagines would make him the more passive of the two. But the way Jason stares, stroking himself, waiting, is reminiscent of a well-trained dog. He sits on his heels and waits for a cue, as if he's very much not the one calling the shots.

Nico squeezes the head of Will's dick, harder and faster in his slick fist and Will senses his climax building up force deep in his guts.

Will gropes at the couch cushion, and Nico fastens his lips to Will's neck, teeth digging in, not quite hard enough to break the skin, but enough Will knows not to move, then starts sucking. Will slips his hand down the crack between the cushion and the couch and finds what he had stashed there 'just in case' a couple of weeks ago: a short row of foil wrapped condoms.

Will swears he has a line of nerves connecting his neck to his his dick because as Nico draws Will's flesh into his mouth, sucking until it bruises, Will's slit drips. He holds the condoms and the tube of lubrication in his fist, then tosses them, and hits Jason in the shoulder.

It's Percy that spots the supplies and grabs them. And watching Percy roll a condom onto Jason's fat dick, then slick his own asshole with lube and hold his cheeks spread apart, Will comes with a loud, long, drawn out moan. He comes so much, so hard, and even more when Nico releases his bite and the pain/pleasure sends an extra shock through Will's spine, coaxing out another twitching spurt.

Nico, his hands, and lap, and cock are covered in Will's come, the thick heady scent even more potent to their pot addled minds. Will can taste the scent, can hear how it looks, which makes no sense, and he decides to stop thinking about it. He watches Nico, focused on his come-splattered hand, fascinated by the texture between his fingers. Then he glances over again at the sounds of grunts and slapping flesh, and Percy's breathy pleas. Will may not have gone the anal route with a guy yet, but seeing how easily Percy takes Jason's huge dick, he suspects Percy's not a novice.

The idea makes Will shiver, a pleasure current running up his spine, and tingling in his scalp. He wraps his hand around Nico's dick, holding steady while Nico bucks up into it, watching as Nico's cheeks flush pink, his lips plump and reddened, parted as he prepares to cry out. "I want it so bad, Will," he gasps, his thighs shaking now, but still bucking his hips. "Wanna do this inside you."

Will hears the words, his asshole twitching as if Nico was charmspeaking it to beg, and Nico comes over the back of Will's hand, fucking the ring Will makes with his fist as if it was Will's ass. Will meets his sloppy, half asleep kisses, smiling against Nico's lips, and holding him upright with his arms as Nico's body goes boneless and his eyes fall closed. Will cuddles Nico against his chest until his legs start to lose feeling, the outside half of his consciousness perking up at the sounds of Jason and Percy getting close.

"Oh. Ohohohohoh, man," Percy calls, his voice vibrating and shaking with each syllable as Jason plows into him. "Duuuuuuude," Percy cries out, and Will turns to watch Jason's firm ass muscles flex, his body going rigid and trying to pump himself into Percy further than he can go.

Will makes a mental note that Jason comes silently while Percy's more of a screamer. Why? He's not even sure. His dual awareness fades around the edges, connecting and returning to one like two bubbles meeting mid air and joining into one big bubble.

Okay. So maybe Will has had a fantasy or two of what it would be like if the four of them got it on, but he'd never allowed his mind to go there before, convinced that Percy and Jason wouldn't ever get over their hangups and recognize how sexually magnetic their energy is together.

Will had seen it immediately after Percy returned with Frank and Hazel and Jason and he had met for the first time. He's talked to Nico about it too, though Nico has always insisted it was healthier for him to just not go there even in thoughts about his friends. Will respects that, but now, as the buzz wears off and reality starts setting in with the sharp sting of truth, _he's_ going to have to face it eventually. He works at getting his pants fastened. Then he braces his legs, his arms firmly supporting Nico, and stands.

He carries Nico to his bed and brings back a warm wet washcloth and a tall glass of water to clean him up a bit and give him something to drink when he wakes.

Percy and Jason's voices echo in through the cabin and Will waits until it sounds like they've disentangled and dressed. Then he steps out from behind the curtain. Will feels entirely sober again and it irks him a little to see them still in a post-fuck haze, high as kites.

"Sup, Solace?" Percy asks.

"It's time for lights out," Will says, and despite himself, he really likes it when Percy says his name like that.

"Yeah," Jason says, rubbing absently at the back of his neck. "Uh, where's Nico?"

Jason's voice too seems to pluck strings inside Will that send his nerves thrumming. Will swallows hard, and doesn't miss the fact Jason and Percy both follow the bobbing of his throat. He licks his lips to wet them, and the corner of Percy's mouth lifts into a small smirk while Jason's ears go red.

"He's crashed out," Will tells them. "And really we should all sleep now. So drink some water before you tuck in for the night, maybe have some ready in case you wake up, and we'll see if we can get this whole mess sorted out in the morning." Will hates how official and representative of the order of camp he sounds, when he is very much just as flawed or even more so than these guys.

Percy nods, then holds his arms out. Then Jason does too and Will wrinkles his forehead, not sure why they want a hug, but he goes for it anyway. Percy hugs him first, and then Jason wraps his arms around both of them. "I uh, had a good time, Solace," Percy says, and presses a kiss to Will's neck.

Jason nuzzles Will's cheek. "I like it when you watch. It might be fun to, you know … All four of us? Talk to Nico." Jason releases him and Percy winks over his shoulder as they head for their designated beds.

Will turns down the power valve for the green-fire torches lining the walls and climbs into bed with Nico and curls up behind him. He's so utterly screwed and damn it to Hades if he kind of looked forward to the prospect.


	35. Chapter 35

Finger Guns and UV Rays - A hint of Suncest with a side of Solangelo and past Zephyrollo. Rated T

XxxX

"Slow down, Apollo! Are you trying burn yourself out?"

Dionysus's voice sounds a long way off. Weak, trembling, like the rustle of grape leaves in the wind.

That image only drives me to drain my chalice to the dregs, the potent blend of divine wine bitter on my tongue, burning as I force it down my throat. The damned wind, Zephyros, is the reason I'm drowning my sorrows in my baby brother's den. Tears build up behind my eyelids, too many to hold back; they spill over my cheeks and I can't even bring myself to care enough to wipe them away.

"You knew they're flighty, wind gods," Dionysus says. He sounds more cheerful than he has in ages and it pisses me off. "When you got with him, you know. I mean, you're the god of prophecy, right? You speak only the truth? You can't honestly say you didn't foresee how it would end."

I force myself to lift my heavy eyelids and glare at Dionysus, my vision red. He's wearing his youthful countenance, all creamy skin, silken black curls, his curves tantalizingly feminine. I haven't seen him so _himself_ in years, especially stone-cold sober.

"As much as it thrills me to see you coming out from under the dark cloud of depression, the fact it's at my expense is not cool, bro. I delivered you at birth, don't even think I won't hesitate to shove you back inside father's thigh and sew it back up."

He snorts, his cheeks going round and red, then full out dissolves into giggles. I can't be in the same room with him anymore. The wine helps, but there's not a chance in Poseidon's game room I'm going to put up with more abuse.

I stand, unsteady on my feet and stumble for the door.

Dionysus stops giggling long enough to wheeze at me: "That's the closet, Apollo. It's perfectly fine with me if you–"

I stop his retort, sending a UV ray at his backside with a flick of my finger gun. I change direction as he hisses and pokes at his new blemish, and walk determinedly out the correct door.

In the hallway, I'm lost. I don't visit the Big House much. As much as I do love my younger brother, too often being around him forces me into self reflection on all the parts of myself I'd rather not acknowledge. I follow the hallway in the dark with my hands stretched out at my sides, fingertips grazing the wallpaper on either side until I reach an open door, the sweetest music coming from within.

I blink a couple of times as I enter, it's just as dark as the rest of the house and my powers are already at their low point at nighttime in the winter, Dionysus's special blend notwithstanding.

In the distance, a boy sits on a tall stool facing the window. My boy. He glows golden as he strums his guitar, singing softly. His playing isn't masterful, but his whole heart goes into it and his song, and it's that sort of honest, raw and pure love that transcends perfect pitch. I'm drawn to him, telling myself his music summoned me, though the lie sits heavy in my heart.

He stops playing and turns to look at me, his eyes wide and blue as the sky.

"Apollo?" he says.

I savor the sound of my name in his voice, closing my eyes, sighing.

"Dad?" he says this time, and I scrunch up my face at the title. I don't want to be called that right now.

Still, even in my drunken haze, I want to do better for my kids than my father did for me, or my vast number of siblings. I open my eyes again, trying to remember how to walk properly, and that seems to be a mistake. Thinking about walking, complicates it. I trip, hitting the cold tiles at Will's feet hard on my ass, and then banging my head against a bed frame.

"How did this get in here?" I ask, rubbing the back of my head and squinting up at Will.

He blows out an exasperated breath, then slips out from under his guitar strap and sets the instrument on the foot of the bed. He stands, and then leans over, offering me a hand up. I stare at his hand before taking it, and then I pull him down with me instead, chuckling at the way he swears in surprise, all long tangled limbs, heavy and warm, as I pull him up against my chest and ignore his protests.

Finally he stills, his breath warm against my neck, the smell of his shampoo sweet in my nose. "You're drunk," he says dryly.

The sound of his disbelief, his _had-about-enough-of-your-shit_ attitude, amuses me to no end. I'm so content in the moment of having him here with me, I don't even bother checking my thoughts, about choosing what to share and what to keep secret. "Will," I breathe. I let up enough for him to pull back and look at me face to face. His lips are so plump and young. Moist. Perfect. "I've dreamed about this. About you. Your pretty lips stretched around my dick."

His face is wrong. I play over what I'd just said a few times in my head, making sure that it is what I meant. It is. I only speak the truth or I choose not to speak, so why is his face blanching, why do I read horror in his eyes?

"Uh," he starts, then swipes his lower lip with his tongue. My eyes track it, and he makes his face a mask. I recognize this. This professional mask healers must wear when they have to interact with difficult patients. A calm, collected mask, hiding their true selves. That would make me the difficult patient. More tears well up in my eyes. I hate it. Rejection.

Will's eyes soften, but I still feel the walls he's thrown up between us. "Dad. I'm with Nico." His eyes widen, and he glances up at the bed, then back at me. "And he's not well. I could really use my dad right now. Think you can get up, crawl into the other bed and sleep this drink off?"

The simple truth, the earnest plea reaches me through the toxic drunken haze. I release Will, watching as he climbs to his feet, and then offers his hand to help me up again. I take it, and this time pull myself up. I'm going to have words with Dionysus tomorrow. And Zephyrus. And probably Will too, I tell myself as I stagger to the empty infirmary bed and fling myself onto it.

Face down on the pillow, I feel Will pull the blanket over my shoulders, then listen to him return to the stool, pick up his guitar again. I tuck my chin down, and peer at the bed next to me, to the boy inside it more shadow than substance. That little shit had better knock it off and not break my son's heart. I aim my finger gun at him and give him a few thousands volts of solar power, then pass out.

XxxX

In the morning my head throbs, my skull shaking with each beat of my heart. But I hear voices, happy ones. Loving words between boys in love. I figure I can deal with my pain. The hope-filled air around me dulls it well enough.


	36. Chapter 36

On the Rocks - Solangelo - Rated T

XxxX

"Oh shit. I think this was a bad idea," I tell my reflection in the dingy pub restroom mirror. My face stares back at me, blanched, my eyes rimmed red.

I stagger back to the booth where Nico waits. He'd ordered another round of whiskey shots, and taps his fingers, smirking at me as I approach. His eyes dance, a challenge playing in them, reflecting the flame from the small tabletop oil lamp.

I take my seat across from him, unable to refuse. Seeing fire in Nico's eyes does things to me, things that I'm not sure he realizes we've been dancing around for years. I pick up my new shot and wait for him to pick his up, bolstered by the fire in my blood from the previous three rounds to finally bring it up in conversation.

"You sure you can handle another one, Solace?"

I bat my eyelashes at him. "If I can't, I'll be at your mercy, Angel." Then I wink and swallow the shot, wincing as it goes down. When I look at him again, he's still holding his drink, his cheeks flushed. "What?" I ask.

He shakes his head as if just realizing he hasn't moved and downs his shot. He bangs the empty glass on the table and stares at me, his eyes pulling my focus like homing beacons in the dark.

I can't help myself; our hands lie on the tabletop only inches apart, both of us hunched forward, elbows supporting our arms. I turn my hand on its side and brush his knuckles with mine, then settle my hand on top of his, my thumb running back and forth over his skin.

He doesn't pull away immediately, doesn't really even seem to notice. He continues to stare at me.

"We've been friends a long time," I say, and the whole conversation I've gone over and over in my mind so many times over the years just starts pouring out. I've never worked up the courage to actually have it with him, never wanting to spook him, to risk him running off again. But now, I can't stop.

He nods, still staring, raising one eyebrow to signal he's listening.

"Like…" I count the years in my head, baffled by the number I come up with, "… seven years?"

He nods again; short, concise, the only response I seem to be getting tonight.

"You ever think about how neither of us has dated anybody in that time? I mean, at Camp, it was pretty much all anybody did. I even did it, too until the last war."

He nods again, making me feel like I'm talking to a bobblehead doll.

"So, you _have_ thought about it?"

I can't help it; my heart speeds up, my lungs ache. I need to get this out and to really, honestly _talk_ to him about the elephant in the room. How we spend practically all our free time together and have for years; how he's my confidante about anything other than matters of romance, more because neither of us has had any than anything else; how much of myself I've held back out of fear of him leaving; how much he means to me; how much I want him to acknowledge that even without kissing and sex, we are pretty much together. And, if he's willing, how much I would like to kiss him; how much I'd like to see if that would lead to something more. But he's doing the thing I knew he would, clamming up, and despite knowing it would happen, my alcohol muddled emotions amplify the hurt I was trying to avoid.

"Not here," he says and grabs his jacket. I'm not sure if I want to cry or start an argument with him, and instead, take his hand when he offers it to help me up.

When I'm standing, I regret drinking as much as I did. What were we thinking? Waiting until we were both 21 before going out, drinking way too much, not acclimating to it or testing where our tolerance is? Though, when I look at Nico, he seems perfectly in control of himself, and it pisses me off that I'm the one who's falling to pieces. I imagined having this conversation so many times, but never where it was me that wasn't in control.

Nico supports me with an arm around my back, holding my arm forward for balance with his other arm, steadying me. I decide not to start an argument or to break down in frustrated sobs, but to stay in the moment while it lasts: Nico, holding me publicly, not downplaying or denying there might be more between us than 'just friends'.

I let him guide me to the bus stop, my eyes swimming in my sockets. I couldn't find my way home in this state if my life depended on it. And yet, handing that responsibility over to Nico feels as natural as breathing. He rubs the side of my arm up and down; I guess he thinks I must be cold. I feel perfectly warm in his embrace while he reads the bus schedule, swears, and then pulls out his cell phone.

We sit on the bench of the bus shelter, the sound of Nico's voice making my eyelids droop. I rest my head on his shoulder, then nuzzle his cheek, enjoying the vibrations of his vocal chords until he stops talking or I stop being awake. I'm not sure which.

XxxX

It could be hours later, or only minutes when Nico strokes my cheek with the palm of his hand and I open my eyes.

"Come on. We're home," he says.

I gaze blearily around, somehow transported to the back seat of a taxi, and Nico pays the driver. He opens the door and helps me out, and I can't stop the rush of nervous giggles bubbling up inside me from flooding out.

Nico smirks, his arm still firmly wrapped around my back, and then leads me up the stairs of our apartment building. I am so far gone for this guy, feeling so warm and comfortable, I hardly notice when we arrive at our door until Nico releases me to unlock it.

My nerves start in again. Coming back home, to the place where I've spent so much time holding back, stifling my arousal out of fear of rejection, and crossing the threshold brings it all crashing back down on me.

I stumble into the sitting room and slump onto the lumpy couch while Nico goes into the kitchen and rattles around in one of the cupboards.

The idea that I could get up, could just refuse to face this right now crosses my mind. I could fall back on my old habits – use the toilet, put on my pajamas, crawl into my cold bed by myself and wait for the disappointment to pass – the promise of a new day, a fresh start, keeping me going. My limbs are too heavy to move, though. I stay put. Nico drops into place beside me a moment later, not in his spot, but right next to me, our thighs pressing together. He hands me a glass of water and watches me drink it.

It tastes wonderful, refreshing. I finish the glass, and then he fumbles something with his fingers. The next thing I know, he pushes a stick of my herbal gum into my mouth. I chew it without protesting, the raw earthy flavor ruining the fresh taste of the water.

"It's medicinal," Nico intones, his face deadpan before his lips twitch at the corners. "It should keep you alive and alert for a few hours."

My head clears a little and I realize he's joking with me. I'm certain he's reciting something I've said to him back at me. I chance a smile at him, then breathe in and out deeply, not entirely sober, but not spinning drunk any longer.

Nico pulls me with him until we rest our heads against the back of the couch, and I realize he's cushioning my neck with his arm. I turn to look at him. His eyes are focused again directly on mine, holding me enthralled.

"I have noticed," he says. "That neither of us have dated other people, I mean. And, well, I thought … I thought it was …" I watch his Adam's apple bob as he swallows. "I thought it was because you were busy with school, that we were just playing it by ear, that when things slowed down, we'd … you know."

I don't know. I don't have the faintest idea what he's talking about. I know he's picking up where we'd left off with the conversation I started in the pub, but Nico doesn't follow the script.

"I don't know," I tell him. "I thought you might not be interested, and I didn't want to chance it and then lose you. I thought …"

My heart leaps, my stomach a flurry of butterflies as Nico hones his gaze on my eyes, sharper than ever. "Can I kiss you, Will?" he asks, his voice deep, gravelly, at odds with the predatory gleam in his eyes.

_Crap!_ I'm sitting here gaping like a fish out of water while Nico has just said the words I've been longing to hear. I nod, still off kilter. And then his lips are on mine, our tongues brushing, my skin breaking out in goosebumps, every hair on my body alive and trembling. Nico's lips and mouth are warm, and wet, and insistent.

I open wider, gasping to breathe as Nico climbs onto my lap, straddling my thighs, moving his kisses along my cheek, then following the line of my jaw to my ear and finally latching onto my neck. I rock my hips up to meet his without even thinking about it, on fire where he touches me, and I finally get with the program and touch him back.

I run my fingers through his thick black hair, gripping his ass through his jeans with my other hand as he growls below my ear, his breath heavy and hot. He lifts his head and grinds down on my groin while I guide his hips, both hands on his ass now. He meets my eyes, smiling … and chewing my gum.

"My room tonight?" he asks, one eyebrow raised. "I think we've got some lost time to make up for, don't you?"

I nod and take his hand as he climbs off the couch. Instead of walking me to his room, he presses us together, leading me in a pseudo-dance backwards, tearing at our our clothes, and kissing me all the way to his bed.

XxxX

Whiskey, for us, is something we now save for special occasions. The day I graduated from med school; the day Nico admitted what he wanted to do for a living and then got his degree in Interior design; the day we signed the papers to buy a house together.

I stop by the liquor store on my way home from the clinic, and Nico spots me trying to hide the bottle in the cabinet above the refrigerator. He swoops in after I close the door and pulls the collar of my lab coat until we're eye to eye. "Special occasion coming up?"

My hip tingles with the ghost of the ring box I've had in my pocket all day, now secreted away in my bedside table drawer. I smile at him, lifting my eyebrows. "Something like that."


	37. Chapter 37

Upgrading the System: Percy 2.0 - Jacksolangelo (Percy/Nico/Will) - Rated M

XxxX

It happened a lot slower than it feels, this thing with Percy Jackson.

He came back to camp the summer he turned 21, broken-hearted and not-quite-right, if you know what I mean. The sense I got from him when I shook his hand in greeting reminded me of an athlete or a warrior coping after losing a limb. The sensation was at odds with the face he presented, all smiles and jokes, a mild self-deprecation delivered in jest; his eyes told a different story. Hidden deep beneath the amused sparkle, they were fractured, small cracks beginning to web like gravel nicking a windshield. As time goes on, they spread.

I don't think I need to read too deeply to understand the cause. I wrote to Annabeth shortly after Percy's return, and his symptoms had started way back from their time in Tartarus. His body had been touched by a hundred curses reaching soul deep, his humanity tested and scraped to the bare bones, then healed. And only hours later, he'd accessed and perverted his powers out of sheer necessity. She'd been afraid of him, had witnessed him in soul form overpower and subdue the primordial goddess of misery. She called him on it and he'd tempered himself, but even afterward, he seemed to grow stronger in Tartarus, his powers thriving. She'd given their relationship her best attempt after the war until she realized she couldn't anymore. Tartarus had injured her, too, and instead of healing, his touch seemed to tear off the scab to her memories, not letting her release them and instead trapping her inside them until she had to let go of him. Afterwards, she'd dedicated her life to Artemis. She claims that having a new purpose sets her free from the horrors of the experience. I suspect Percy needs to find something similar – who am I kidding – he and Nico both. I'm not sure if it's my gift that draws me to those who are broken, or if it's my fatal flaw. All I know is that questioning it would be like tempting the fates. I'm not that stupid.

It took a few months before Percy appealed to me for help. He couldn't keep up the mask he wore, the false skin, the happy act; it wasn't real, no matter how much he wanted it to be. I couldn't turn him away.

He doesn't want to call it therapy, what we do, but that's basically what it is. Percy prefers to look at it as a friendship. It is that too. After I close up the infirmary in the evenings, he stops by for our session. I listen while he talks, and from the very beginning I've struggled to stay professional. I'm drawn to him, inappropriately so. I end up checking him out, watching his lithe muscles move under his shirt, or on hot days without a shirt. I find myself more distracted than helpful and, as a healer (even if he insists that's not what I am to him) I feel I'm failing him and myself. He doesn't know the whole story, doesn't realize how affected I am by him. When I suggest that he consider going to Chiron for these sessions, that shattered look comes back with full force and I swallow my reservations, attempting to stifle my reactions to him. It's becoming harder for me to deny that they are growing, to tell myself that they're innocent and that I wouldn't act on them if Percy offered an opportunity.

What is wrong with my brain? Is it true that broken people are my fatal flaw, that I find them sexually intoxicating or is it just by chance the two I've found happen to be broken? It's breaking me the more aware of my own self I become, driving me to hide part of myself. It counters my nature.

Sometimes Percy doesn't have much to say and we sit in silence until curfew. Other times, he projects hilarity and falls back on bad jokes and potty humor – even that doesn't quell my longing. Then, there are times he goes deep, bares his soul to me in all it's Tartarus-tainted glory, tears streaming down his cheeks, body wracking with sobs. Those are the days when, against my better judgment because I'm not honest about my feelings, I allow him to get close, to take comfort from my arms, from my healing touch. It drains me more than I let him know, weakens my resolve and tests my commitments, but I _can't_ refuse him.

Nico says he understands, based on the censored versions I've shared with him. I know he wants Percy to have a second chance; he always has. I think he still hates himself for how much he cares.

We're together, Nico and me, which is why I'm struggling so hard. Nico never wanted my healing touch like Percy does. Before we were anything more than friends, he decided on his own to consult Chiron and, strangely enough, Mr. D for his therapy sessions. He's come so far in his healing, I can't even describe it.

Things changed between us when Nico pulled me aside after I'd been moping about how he preferred the camp directors to me, and he pushed me up against the wall of the infirmary's storage cabinet. My words deserted me as I lost myself in his eyes and he told me he'd made his choice so we'd be equals, that he wouldn't feel indebted to me, so we could date without any weird power dynamic getting in the way. I gulped and swallowed my misdirected jealousy, and then Nico chased the bad taste from my mouth with his tongue. I thought my knees would give out with that first kiss. I still feel that way when he takes charge, and … damn. Just thinking about it is giving me wood. I curse my hormones.

Anyway, getting back to the present - Nico and I have been together for two years, and Percy's been back at camp for about nine months. Time really does seem to fly. Percy is the oldest camper I think Camp-Half Blood has ever had at almost 22. I worry about how he'll react when he finds out Nico and I will be leaving after summer ends.

I've tried to get Nico to join us sometimes during Percy and my sessions – it was Percy's idea to begin with – but Nico says he doesn't want to be a third wheel. Honestly, I think it's because he's scared. I'm not blind, even if I am steeped in denial and guilt of my own. He's just as taken with Percy as I am, steadily growing over the past few months. I feel it in the subtle veil of omission when we talk with each other about our individual interactions with Percy. It's the sort of thing that could become a dividing wall if we don't acknowledge it.

Percy and Nico demonstrate swordplay on a daily basis for the younger campers, and then take turns teaching techniques. I don't blame either of us for the Percy problem. It's so easy to fall hard and fast for him. He's kind, impossibly hot without going all 'Narcissus' about it, and the fragile parts of him call out that despite how powerful he is, he's real; accessible; perfectly imperfect. It's hard for me to understand how anybody could _not want_ to hug him and love all over him.

Nico and I need to have bring this truth out in the open. We've talked in the past about not letting doubts and uncertainties drag our relationship down. I think we both fully embrace the concept in theory, and stumble over it in practice. Bringing it up is the tricky part. I'm so afraid of losing him, of seeing him run again that I'm practically driving him to do it by not opening up about this 'Percy problem'. It's impossible that he hasn't sensed the emotional silence Percy's name throws between us when it comes up.

I wash my hands after finishing the last of my filing, and then glance at the clock. It's 5:30. I roll my head, stretching my arms and working out the kinks in my neck and back, then slump forward in the wheeled chair, staring at the infirmary desk. I have to do it today. I swear to myself I'll talk to Nico as soon as Percy's session is over.

I don't even know how much time passes as I stare blankly at the desk top, my chin propped in my hands, my elbows on the desk. My pulse beats in my lips.

"Will?"

Nico's voice.

I turn to greet him, my hands stiff and pricking with pins and needles.

"Hey, there," I say, opening my arms in welcome. He crosses the room and stands between my knees, settling his hands on my shoulders, my hands rising to grip his hips. I meet his gaze as he worries his lower lip with his teeth. "What's up?" I ask. I give his hips a squeeze, already aroused from thinking about Percy, and Nico, too, has never failed to set my heart racing, my dick throbbing.

Without a word, Nico straddles my thighs, bringing us close. He slips his hands up under my surgeon's shirt, his eyes wild with want. I'm right there with him, my breath hitching, my hands roving his back. I glance at the clock again, a moan rising in my throat. It's 6:00 now. Percy will be here in half an hour, earlier, if his anxiety is up.

"I need you, Will. Right now. I just fucking need you," Nico says, brushing our cheeks together while he fumbles with the button at my fly. His hands tremble, his lips, too as he pulls back to see what he's doing. He almost looks like he's going to cry. Before I can get my mouth to work, to check that he's okay, he gets my fly open and slips his hand inside my briefs, wrapping my aching cock in his warm palm.

I don't want him to stop, but reality forces my words.

"But, Percy," I start to say, and Nico shakes his head, squeezing his eyes shut.

"No. I don't want him anymore. Only you, Will. I choose you."

He strokes my dick, then brushes his thumb across the slit, smearing the pearl of precome he always manages to elicit. I sense he's holding back, that this is a last ditch seduction. He's getting ready to run again. I _know_ Nico; I've loved him for years.

"I choose you, too, Nico," I manage, though it takes some effort not to gasp. "But …"

He shakes his head again, hell bent on not letting me talk, to not force him to admit whatever his plans are.

"No. Don't talk about him right now."

He crawls off my lap and onto his knees, then yanks my underwear down in front, tucking the waistband under my balls. He swallows my cock before I can say anything more.

I comb my fingers through his hair, raking his scalp, unable to do anything else because Nico's mouth is divine. He was born to suck cock and he proves it to me as often as he can.

"Com…ing," I gasp, and Nico's breath hitches as he doubles down on his efforts to suck me off. I catch my breath again. I'm not close to coming yet, but I will be if Nico keeps going. "Percy," I say. "Percy's coming."

The name acts like a stun gun. Nico's throat full on stops moving, his mouth dropping open, breaking the suction. He pulls off and glares up at me from under his furrowed brow. "Will … I …" He stops again, and then shakes his head. "I'm leaving."

"I like him too." I blurt my confession and Nico pauses, halfway off the floor. He stares at me and I keep going, rambling. My heart beats so fast against my ribs, panic rising at his word. I have to lay it all out, to come clean. "Percy. I'm crushing on him, too. I love you more than I ever thought possible, Nico. And, I fantasize about Percy. About his body, about what his cock might look like, how it would taste." I go for broke, my forehead one big worry crease. "I want to strip him down and lick his ass open. I want to fuck him into tomorrow. It isn't only you. It's me too."

We stare into each other's eyes, mine filling with tears, blurring his features. But he doesn't pull away, and more importantly, he doesn't leave.

"So, I guess this is a bad time?"

Nico turns to look at Percy standing in door as I hastily wipe my eyes, realizing too late that my cock is still out and still hard, the blood trapped by the waistband of my briefs, and Percy stares right at it, his lips curling in a half smile.

I'm too lost to say anything, in denial it's even happening. How much of my confession did Percy witness? How is Nico going to react? Why haven't I put my cock away yet?

"That depends on you," Nico says, catching me off guard. Percy raises an eyebrow and Nico goes on, his voice perfectly controlled, assured. "Are you interested in having me suck you off while Will eats your ass? Want to give it up while we take turns fucking you? If so, you're right on time."

"Nico," I whimper, my voice a squeak in the back of my throat. He turns back to me and my cock throbs. He's too hot when he gets riled up and authoritative. I look at it, swollen and reddened, more precome bubbling up from my slit. Nico swipes the strand off with a finger, then pops it in his mouth and turns back to Percy.

I look up in time to see Percy adjust the front of his pants, and then he steps into the room and closes the door behind him. "I'm game," he says. My mind spins wondering where the catch is, if I'm actually dreaming or if there's another explanation for this fantasy coming true. Percy pulls his shirt off and drops it, then kicks off his shoes, his hands on the waistband of his pants, but Nico stops him from lowering them with a time out gesture. Percy pauses undressing, but not talking. "I think I should be the one to fuck you two, though."

Nico rises from his crouched position, and then approaches Percy, staring him down despite being half a head shorter. "Why is that, Jackson?"

Percy wrinkles his forehead, then shrugs. "Because I'm older," he says, though his voice lifts at the end making his statement sound like a question.

I sense a power battle rising between the two of them, and instead of stepping in to disrupt it, it turns me on something fierce. I wrap my hand around my cock and stroke it, feeling it firm up under my palm, half aware this might not be a good idea. I can't stop, though; I'm too aroused to think. I slide my other hand up under my shirt, tucking it into my armpit and flick my right nipple, gasping at the jolt it sends through my body. Apparently, loud enough to draw Percy and Nico's attention. They turn as one and watch me, all dark hair and hungry eyes.

I let go of my dick at the sight, my heart thudding, my mind spinning. They approach me, predatory gleams flashing in their eyes. If I don't catch my breath soon I'm going to pass out.

Nico reaches me first, his hand on my chest, thumb brushing my nipple as I drag in a ragged breath. And then Percy stands beside him, more hesitant, his fractured eyes revealing his uncertainty. I hold my hand out for him, palm up, welcoming, and he takes it, his eyes softening, grateful, the sparkle sliding back into place and hiding the cracks. It breaks my heart to know how shattered he is underneath, but as Nico flicks my nipple, then tugs on it, a huge burst of pleasure runs through me and up Percy's arm, my healing touch turned sexual.

It's heaven to watch him react, his eyes half-lidded, his lips parted as he shudders. I pull him closer, Nico, shifting without prompting to make room, and I press my lips against Percy's stomach, inhaling the scent of his arousal until I'm high on it, my eyes closing.

I can hear their lips meet overhead, feel Percy bow his head to meet Nico halfway through the contraction of abdominal muscle against my face and lips. Nico tugs at my nipple and sends ripples of _want_ so powerful I feel it in my fingers and toes. I wrap my arms around Percy's hips, leaning in to explore his abs with my tongue, savoring each dip and curve, how they tighten and relax with each stroke.

He cards his fingers in my hair, making my scalp tingle. The soft sounds of wet kisses stops above me as Nico makes room for Percy, standing at my left side, watching us. My dick throbs as I look up and meet Percy's green eyes, the pupils enlarged, the ridge of his brow catching shadows in the low light. I tremble under his gaze, and then at my side, Nico tugs my shirt, already pulled up and tucked under my armpit. I let go of Percy and lift my arms, allowing Nico pull it off. He moves away, retreating.

It's odd, how exposed I feel. I've always been comfortable in my body, displaying it readily, soaking up the sun when I can. Nico claims I'm an exhibitionist, though out of humor rather than judgment. But now … Stripped of my shirt, my cock supported by my briefs, jutting out as if on display and Percy and Nico here, touching me, all of us touching each other. Things are moving so fast. Has it only been minutes since I'd realized Nico and I needed to talk about Percy? I can't process time right now. I stop trying.

Percy drops into a half squat, his eyes shifting from mine to Nico's, like he's seeking permission for something. He seems to get it, and smiles, then leans in close to my face, my dick brushing his shirt. "Can I?" he asks, his breath cool on my heated cheek.

I surrender to Percy's lips without a thought, opening up to him, to his teasing tongue, his leap before looking tendency. Lost in the velvet heat of Percy's mouth, I taste the darkness inside him, how close it is to the surface. It doesn't scare me, not anymore. It's familiar to me, reminiscent of Nico - the taste of strength and of returning home. I don't judge the darkness, I accept that we all have some darkness inside us, some more than others, but that it doesn't change how much a person is worth.

_Nico_. I think his name, I might even say it out loud as Percy kisses down my neck, one hand on my cock, and then trails kisses down my chest to my lap. I sweep the room with my eyes, needing to find Nico again, to anchor myself with him, to double check he's okay with what I'm allowing Percy to do.

I breathe a relieved sigh, catching sight of him from the corner of my eye, his boots and socks on the floor next to one of the beds, and stripping himself of his jeans. I choke, my breath catching and look back down as Percy wraps his lips around the head of my cock. He pulls my foreskin up, gripping with his lips and sealing it with suction, then chases down my shaft swirling his tongue, my cock trapped in the vacuum of his throat.

Percy has to have done this before. I tangle my fingers in his hair, holding on tight, concentrating on keeping my feet steady so my chair doesn't shoot out from beneath me on its wheels. There's no way this is the first blow job he's given.

I rock my head back on my shoulders, exposing my throat, and then smile when Nico is back at my side. He kisses me upside down, and sideways, his palms on my chest and pinches my nipples again, making my breathing stutter. I moan and Percy pops off my cock. I sense him watching Nico torture my nipples. I might be embarrassed if I wasn't so wrapped up in Nico's mouth, but my nipples are sensitive and Nico is obsessed with them. His favorite thing to do with me after dark, hidden away in the Hades cabin, is to fasten my wrists to his headboard, and play with my them, touching nothing else on my body and reducing me to a writhing mess. Once, he made me come from just that.

Percy chuckles through his nose, his breath tickling my bobbing dick. As Nico works my nipples in short twists and Percy chases a stream of precome back up my shaft, my back aches. It's not a comfortable position. I turn my head to request a change, but don't need to. Nico moves back to give me room, and Percy climbs to his feet. He takes my hands and helps me up, pulling my chests against his, pressing our foreheads together. It's good, so good, the skin-to-skin contact. I want more. I want Percy in front of me and Nico behind, sandwiching me between their tight, hot bodies. My cheeks burn at the thought, and then Nico takes charge.

"It's time for bed," he says, and he sounds so much like a parent, I can't stop myself giggling. My endorphins are high. He stands at my back, and, strangely, Percy doesn't laugh. He concedes to Nico, and with his hands on my biceps, turns me around so I meet Nico's eyes. Nico's lips twitch at the corners, his eyebrows thick and drawn, slowly lifting as if calling me out for being impertinent.

I lower my gaze as he steps toward me, and then he pulls the waistband of my briefs back over my dick, trapping it. It aches as the pressure at the base lifts.

"We're going to my cabin," he says. "Percy, you too."

Percy takes the hand Nico offers and Nico slips his other hand into mine before fading us into the shadows.

XxxX

When we step back into the real world, the green fire torches on the walls of the Hades cabin surge to life, casting a glowing green tint over the room, and making shadows dance and reflect off the obsidian ceiling and walls.

Percy grips the sides of my waist from behind before I get my bearings, and Nico walks a circle around us, stripped to his boxers. He stops in front of me, adjusting the tenting fabric at his front with one hand, and then stepping right into my space, his hands under Percy's at my hips.

I'm so hard it hurts, wanting him, wanting _them_. I'm not even sure how I want sex to go tonight. I decide not to worry about it as Nico hooks his thumbs into my waistbands and pulls my pants and briefs down to my knees. I want to fuck, to stick my dick into his tight heat and pump it full of my come; yet, I also want to surrender to him – to be taken, my orgasm coaxed from my body with his cock against my prostate, to feel him tense up and then let go, emptying his load inside me, a smile slack on his face.

He draws my focus again, pressing a kiss to my lips, Percy's body heat cushioning my back. Nico puts a foot in the crotch of my pants where they hang between my knees, then steps, dragging them down my legs so I can step free from them, discarding my flip flops underneath them.

"Get on the bed, Will," he murmurs against my lips, his voice reverberating through me and making goosebumps break out all over my body. Percy lets go of my hips and I cross the room and climb onto Nico's bed, sitting on my heels, my knees digging into the mattress as I watch Nico and Percy face off, sizing each other up.

Nico says something too low for me to catch, but Percy reacts at once, the muscles in his back tensing, his shoulders squaring. He lowers his hands to his fly and drops his pants, his ass revealed, ghostly pale compared to the rest of his skin. I want to trace his tan lines with my tongue. I read Nico's amused observation that Percy goes commando in the way his eyebrows lift, how he moistens his lips, and then he nods at me, or maybe just at the bed in general.

Percy turns, seeming to not want to let Nico out of his line of sight, but doing it anyway. He approaches and climbs onto the bed next to me, then flops onto his back right in the middle, wriggling his arms and legs like he enjoys the feel of Nico's cotton duvet.

"What are you, a puppy?" Nico asks as he climbs onto the bed next to Percy, then stretches out on his side, propped up on his elbow, still wearing his boxers.

Percy chuckles and runs his hands over his chest and stomach, then starts stroking his dick.

I don't ask myself what's gotten into me, into any of us; I yield to my desire to take part in getting Percy hard. I lift my left leg over both of his, then shuffle on my knees until they reach his hips. I sit on his thighs and bump my dick against his knuckles until he takes both in the same fist. Our cock heads squeezing together through the foreskin with each pull feels really good now, but experience tells me we'll need to lube up before things get painful. Luckily, Nico is on top of it.

Casually, he retrieves the tube of lube from under his pillow – after becoming intimate, we go through the stuff at an alarming rate, edible because we learned the hard way – and drizzles it over Percy's fingers. Percy sucks in a hiss through his teeth as we slide together, newly slippery.

I watch Percy's face as he rocks his hips, his head falling back, exposing his neck, his eyes rolling up as his eyelids fall half closed. My heart grows in my chest, expanding as Nico, similarly wrapped up in watching Percy come undone, licks the dip of Percy's throat, then trails kisses up his his neck before finding his lips and owning them.

Percy slackens his grip and I pull out of his fist, relief coursing through me as my arousal evens out. I love ramping up, but coming too soon would waste this opportunity.

As Nico pushes Percy's shoulders into the mattress, draping his body over Percy's side, his boxer shorts tenting to the point of absurdity, I shift lower and guide Percy to lift his knees. I have a mighty need to explore his ass and nothing, short of Percy telling me no, is going to stop me from doing it. Fortunately, Nico keeps Percy's mouth busy and Percy doesn't resist as I guide him into position.

My hands, tucked behind his knees, hold his legs up and I lie on my stomach, my feet hanging off the end of the bed. I lean my face forward and mouth at his balls, moaning as my erection pushes against the mattress. Percy's sac tightens under my lips, making me smile as I push his knees up further and finally get an eyeful of what he's been hiding between his fantastically perfect glutes.

His hole winks at me, shy as my breath huffs over it. A crazy, giddy rush floods my brain at the thought I'll be the first to ever taste him here. I don't know it for a fact, but I suspect it's true. I drag my tongue over the furled skin, sensing I'm correct in my suspicion by the tightening muscles under my hands, his trembling thighs. I do it over and over, licking him open, a little bit awestruck at how readily his hole responds, showing me its inner pink.

He gasps above me, released from Nico's kiss, and as if sensing the irresistible treasure I've uncovered, Nico joins me at Percy's groin. The top of his head pushes in between Percy's bent thighs as he straddles Percy's chest backwards in a sixty-nine position. He swallows Percy's cock as if it was designed to fit his throat. The gurgling sounds Percy makes are music to my ears as I open him up even more, wriggling my tongue all around his rim and dipping inside.

"Not – mmm – fair," Percy manages, pulling my attention away from my task. I release his right knee, Nico automatically taking over supporting it, and wet my fingers with a combination of leftover lube and Nico's saliva dripping from his blow job. I rub them over Percy's begging hole.

"What, Percy?" I ask, using a knuckle to prod his center, teasing and testing. His ass responds like it has been trained, and I wonder if he's not already well acquainted with his prostate.

He whines, breathing his words as if trying to hold back the orgasm Nico appears to be working out of him using his throat. "I can't … Fucking boxers."

I show no mercy for his plight of not being able to return the favor to Nico, and Percy inhales a staccato series of "ah-ah-ah" as I slip a finger inside him, and push his pleasure button.

Nico pops off with a slurp and a giggle he can't restrain, and I push myself up to meet his mouth in a messy, wet kiss. Nico's ready – the message comes across clear as day as we savor Percy's flavor between us. I push a second finger into Percy, fucking him open as Nico breaks the kiss and looks into my eyes, his gaze deep, dark, and hungry. I nod as he lifts an eyebrow, the side of his mouth twitching up, and then he climbs off of Percy, even as Percy's hands scrabble to catch him and hold him in place. A wriggle of my fingers inside Percy kills his success.

Nico climbs backwards off the bed, Percy's right leg dropping open at the thigh, his chest and abs revealed like a feast for my eyes. His cock dances as I graze his prostate with my fingertips, and I can't suppress the ridiculous thought that I'm manipulating Percy like a finger puppet. The idea puts a grin on my face I couldn't stop if I wanted to.

Nico's boxers hit the floor behind me, soft as a whisper, and that does the trick, my grin subdued, my lips parting, eager. I pull my fingers free, and lower Percy's left leg to the bed, then climb up his body, making room for Nico behind me.

As my face hovers above Percy, I study him. His eyes are closed as he teases his right nipple, his lips parted, reddened and wet. A flush covers his cheeks and spreads down his neck to his chest, and I know I'm probably flushing even worse. When I drag my cock over his, he opens his eyes, briefly showing me the shattered parts until they lock onto mine, softening, trusting.

And then Nico's swipes his talented tongue over my hole, nearly making me come on the spot. I bite my lower lip and breathe through the urge. Questions seem to flit in Percy's eyes before he realizes what Nico is doing to me, and then he smirks. It's okay, though. When he's wearing a cocky smirk, he isn't shattered, and the brilliant, sparkling part of his personality takes over.

"I want to fuck you, Will," he says, his eyebrows rising like he's trying to challenge me. More than that, though, I hear uncertainty in his voice. Like he's reading lines from a script: words written by somebody else and taught to him – this is what you say when in such a position – and his body language at odds with it, misfitting.

Still, I'm versatile. I enjoy getting fucked and Nico loves giving it to me, but I seldom get to fuck. Percy's ass has my claim on it and I'll fight to keep it, but if Percy needs to practice the script before throwing it away, I can do that too.

I nod, then shudder again, pushing back onto Nico's tongue and fingers; he makes fast work of me when he wants to. I signal to Nico with a simple turn of my head and he responds immediately. He lifts his face, and the shifts on the bed, his chin at my shoulder. Percy watches our silent exchange. With a raised eyebrow, a forehead crease, and a nod, I'm assured Nico understands I want to change up our unspoken plans to accommodate Percy's request, even if Percy doesn't realize that's what we're doing.

Nico kisses me soundly, stealing my breath, my heart thudding to his direction before releasing me. We're on the same page; I belong to him, him to me, and Percy is a pleasure we share together. He grips my hips, guiding me into position as I meet Percy's eyes, rising above him. "Yes," I say. "You can fuck me."

I hover my ass over his dick as Nico lifts it into position, Percy's eyes going wide, his forehead wrinkled until the head of his cock bumps my hole and he breathes out, relaxing. He holds onto my waist, stroking my abs with his thumbs as I sink backwards, taking him inside myself, Nico's hand reassuringly warm on my lower back.

"Oh, yesssss," I hiss, closing my eyes and savoring the stretch, Percy's girth more than I'm used to taking. It's good, though, being filled. I raise and lower myself on his dick until I'm fully seated and can sit up all the way.

Percy's hands slip from my sides, settling on my thighs. I open my eyes and meet his wide, almost fearful, gaze. I lift his right hand and bow my head, kissing the back of his fingers, and then guide it to my cock. He wraps around the shaft, eyes softening again as if he's grateful to have something to hold, something familiar, and then I use my thighs to ride his dick, fucking mine into the ring of his fist.

Nico moves away from my back, concerning me a moment, until he returns and I understand why. He pauses our coupling, pushing more lube around my rim, and down Percy's shaft, and then Percy's instincts kick in. He bucks his hips up and I focus on holding still, staying loose and taking the pounding, dropping my jaw, my breath huffing. But the pounding never comes. He bucks slow and steady, not ramping up.

I lean forward, my palms on his chest, and make a hushing sound until he pauses. My eyes on his, watching his reactions, I roll my hips and fuck myself on top of him, riding his cock until I feel it where I want it inside. Percy's lips move so prettily as the pleasure blossoms inside me, and the sensation I love so much about getting fucked starts to build, like our souls seek each other out, normally cased in our bodies, but through joining are able to meet and touch.

I lower my face to his, his hands moving out of the way so we can press our chests together, sweat beading up on Percy's upper lip.

Nico's hands on my ass keep us joined as I slow down, nearly unsheathing Percy's dick to get close to his lips.

"What is it?" I whisper, then concede. I'm not going to make his say it. Not if he doesn't want to. Instead of waiting, I ask him: "Can I fuck you now?"

The truth, the relief, crashes over his face and he lifts his face and smashes our mouths together as Nico moves his hands to stroke the backs of my calves. Percy's cock slips out of me, rutting up along my cleft. His cheeks color a darker pink, his eyes casting down to Nico and then back to me. "I … Yeah."

I sense there's more he's not telling me, but after six or seven months of our 'sessions', I know it's best to let him decide when and what to say. Pushing Percy to do anything not on his terms backfires every time.

Nico takes charge again, this time, straddling Percy's chest facing him, as I move back and lift Percy's legs. Nico passes me the lube without needing to be asked, and then traces Percy's lips with the tip of his dick, distracting him more effectively than any method I've ever used with him. I have to force my eyes to look away, nearly distracting myself enough to forget what I'm doing.

My claim on Percy's ass. A shiver races down my spine at the recollection. I squeeze more lube into my palm, then slick my dick with it before fingering Percy's hole again. He opens to my touch like a dream, and it hits me that he might masturbate with toys. That would explain his body's responses. The idea makes my dick throb, dripping precome from the slit, and I try to force myself to stop thinking about Percy and sex toys. I push the tip of my cock right up to Percy's hole and barely press before the head sinks in without resistance. Percy's channel ripples around my cock, squeezing, and then relaxing without effort. I almost come right then; his ass is made to be fucked.

I pull back a little, and then push forward, sliding in nearly all the way and losing myself as Percy hums around Nico's dick in his mouth. I feel the vibrations around my own cock, as if rippling through water. I can't hold back and press my forehead against Nico's back before settling into a pace that won't make me come right away, but will allow me to seek out Percy's hot spots.

When Percy calls out, his fists gripping the duvet cover, Nico climbs off of the bed again, then circles around and stands at the foot. He stops my hips and I pull out, Percy whimpering as if he can't help it. I don't tease him.

Together, Nico and I pull Percy down so his ass is on the edge of the bed, and he holds his legs open. I sink back inside him, pushing our bodies flush with each other again, this time, distracting myself with kissing Percy, his hands all over my back and shoulders, tangling in my hair, his legs squeezing my sides. Nico works me open from behind, and then, propping his knee beside my hip on the edge of the bed pushes inside me with a long thrust. My mind is blown wide, my body stimulated as I've only ever dreamed of being, fucking and filled simultaneously. Percy grunts, his fingers digging into my back as Nico thrusts into me, finding a rhythm and fucking me into Percy.

My chest and Percy's squelch against each other with every thrust, sweaty, hot. As good as it feels, as far gone as I am, I can't disconnect from the sounds enough to enjoy the pleasure. Fortunately, Nico stops. He pulls out, and I do the same, Percy closing his eyes, his dick and hands twitching.

"I don't like the angle," Nico says as he climbs onto the bed and holds his arms open for me to join him. Percy sits up, looking at Nico, waiting.

Nico stuffs his pillows into a pile against the headboard and then guides me to recline against them with my legs outstretched. Then he makes a 'come on' hand gesture to Percy and, catching on, Percy gets into the new position at once. He faces away from me, straddling my thighs, and then sinks back onto my dick, guiding it inside himself with a relieved sigh. I hold his hips, my cock twitching inside him, but how is Nico going to … "Nico?"

Nico gives me a wicked grin and a wink and then crouches on the bed in front of Percy, his plan becoming clear. Percy fucks himself on my cock, lifting up and sinking back several times until he switches his weight to his feet, balancing on his haunches with his hands on Nico's shoulders.

I bite my lower lip, holding my breath to keep from coming as Percy's ass flexes athletically before my eyes, his hole tight around my cock, and able to take it even deeper than before. Nico stills in front of him, his back bowed, mouth open as they seem to learn their movements, then give themselves over to them, fitting together as if they were meant to. Percy; bobbing up and down on my cock, and fucking Nico's mouth and throat with each upthrust.

If Percy's giving it to Nico with the same forces he's fucking himself on me, I doubt Nico will be able to talk without rasping for at least a day.

Propped on pillows and putting in none of the work, my cock slipping in and out of Percy's muscular ass, I've found Elysium in watching his fucking perfect body work its muscles. My eyes land on each area, a visual caress, as my brain labels them: obliques; thoracolumbar fascia; latissimus dorsi; teres'; delts; rhomboids … My blood pools behind my navel, my breath quickening, and then Percy tightens, calling out, his ass squeezing around my cock. His muscles jump as his body jerks and spasms. Swallowing sounds, and Nico humming brings my pleasure crashing over. I grab Percy's hips, rocking up inside him, pulling him onto my cock as I pump my orgasm into him, claiming him.

I need to touch when it's over; need to feel his weight, to taste his breath. I pull him by the shoulders after my cock slips free and he comes without resistance, half covering my body with his, a crush of scents and mass: come and sweat. Percy's, mine, and … I hold my hand out to where Nico sits on his knees, his dick still hard. He crawls over to join us, automatically moving to my side, but stopping partway.

Percy stretches his hand out, beckoning, and when I nod at him, Nico crawls over to Percy's side.

Percy's voice vibrates in his chest, and through mine underneath. I close my eyes and breathe in the comfortable air, the perfect glow after sex.

Nico whimpers, and I open my eyes again. I want to watch. I pull myself out from under Percy, propped on my side with my elbow and smile at Nico standing on his knees, Percy leaning forward from the reclining pillows and deepthroating his cock. Percy's nose presses against Nico's pubic bone, and Nico holds onto Percy's hair, his fingers twining with the black locks.

Watching Nico come, his mouth dropping into an O, his tight shoulders shuddering, jerking as Percy racks his system, blows my world. Percy keeps sucking even after Nico finishes, and Nico doesn't stop him; he takes the torture to his hypersensitive cock, twitching with aftershocks, a smile on his lips. He meets my eyes and they startle me. They seem to plead, but I'm not sure what for.

Percy pulls off slowly, Nico's fist still tight in his hair, though he doesn't complain; he waits for Nico to let go, to find his breath. Fingers trembling, Nico releases his grip, then drops his hand at his side. Percy picks it up immediately and pulls Nico, laughing, down on top of him.

I have watched Nico switch gears a lot through the years, and haven't ever seen him do it as readily as he does now with Percy. How he can go from confident and in charge, to hesitant and unsure, and then with a simple yank, dissolve into giggles as if shedding years of worry and time, and reverting to a childlike joy.

I watch them from my side, Nico's dark eyes sparkling, dancing as they meet Percy's, both of them survivors of Tartarus, and yet finding blushes and laughter inside each other. That thought, that realization shuts up the small inner voice inside my head telling me I should be jealous. They can do for each other something nobody else, myself included, can. I don't want either of them to go without it.

They seem to remember me at the same time, and turn as one to look. I get the message this time, the plea in Nico's eyes. I nod and lean forward to kiss him, then do the same to Percy.

Nico is absolutely correct. We need Percy and he needs us. We work together. We won't be leaving him behind after the summer without putting up a fight. If he's not ready to leave Camp at that time then we'll figure out another strategy. It doesn't matter what it takes, we're upgrading to three.


	38. Chapter 38

Touchy-Feely (Solangelo) - Rated T

XxxX

"Thanks Nico," Will says, quickly pulling his hand away after Nico hands him a coke.

"Sure thing." Nico settles back into _his_ chair in the infirmary, the one Will always has ready for him when he stops for a snack break. Nico tells himself it shouldn't bother him, but Will's been acting off the past few days. "Solace, what's up with you lately?"

Will frowns at him, leaning against the countertop and wiping the sweat off his brow with the back of his arm. "What do you mean?"

Now that he's talking, Nico figures he doesn't have anything to lose. He's getting to the bottom of Will's oddness now. He narrows his eyes. "Am I contagious all of a sudden? Have I got cooties? Do I smell bad?"

Will scrubs the back of his neck, his tell for being nervous. "W-what do you mean?" he repeats.

Nico glares at him, and gets to his feet. "You used to touch me all the time, grab my hand, pat my back, poke me in the side with your elbow. You don't anymore. I'm wondering why."

Will's face goes red. "Oh. Umm – Well, uh – Jason Grace pulled me aside the other day. He mentioned that I might want to give you a little space, said you didn't like people touching you." Nico furrows his eyebrows and waits for Will to finish explaining. "I didn't realize, didn't want to be a nuisance, you know?"

Will has gone so red, he looks like he's about ready to burst out of his skin from embarrassment. Nico can't help it, he kind of likes it when Will is the one who is blushy and off-balance.

"Will?"

"What?"

"Have I ever told you I didn't want you to touch me, even once?"

He almost laughs as Will makes a face as he thinks back over their conversations. "Uhh, no."

"Right," Nico says. "I suggest you listen to what I say about me instead of what my friends tell you." He turns and leaves the room, feeling like he's several inches taller.

XxxX

Nico wonders later if Will didn't take their last conversation as a challenge, though he's not complaining. After sword practice, Will ruffles his hair, and says: "Looking good out there, di Angelo." It puts a smile on Nico's face that lasts all day. At the campfire, he brushes their arms together. During morning inspection, he pats Nico's shoulder and gives him an impromptu back massage.

Nico grins when he wakes up in the mornings, wondering what Will is going to try next. It's ridiculous and more than a little childish, but Nico doesn't care. This sort of flirting is easy and fun. He likes it.

After lunch, Will makes his next move. They wander together to the edge of the forest where a small grove of trees blocks them from the rest of the camp. As they approach, Will slips his hand into Nico's and pulls him along, Nico's heart thrumming in his chest.

They stop in front of the largest tree in the grove and Will holds up their clasped hands. "So, this is okay?"

Nico raises an eyebrow as if to say: _Do you hear me complaining?_

Will grins, his expression as mischievous as the children of Hermes, then steps in front of Nico so they're facing each other. He settles his free hand on Nico's waist. "This?"

Nico fights the smile threatening to take over and doesn't answer. He keeps his eyes fixed on Will's, all his inner butterflies dancing as a blush spreads across Will's cheeks.

Will steps closer until Nico wonders if they're going to dance, only a couple of inches of space separating them. Will moves his hand again, dropping his eyes and giving Nico's butt a squeeze. "This?"

Nico can't fight the smile anymore. It's too silly. He wets his lips, his breath catching as his tongue draws Will's attention like a homing beacon. His heart beats faster than ever and he feels like he's about ready to burst out of his own skin if the air between them grows any more charged. "Can I?" Will whispers, leaning in, almost touching their lips.

Nico gives up his ruse and meets Will halfway. The kiss sends electric shocks through his nerves, waking every single one. They brush lips over and over, hesitant to the point of hilarity until they're giggling more than kissing.

Will rests his cheek against Nico's, his breath hot and sweet on Nico's face. "It's okay if you touch me, too."

Nico finds Will's lips again, hands on his shoulders, and then pushes him against the tree trunk, taking him at his word and tangling their tongues.

XxxX

The next time Jason Grace visits camp, he keeps his mouth shut because Nico seems to be the one who can't keep his hands off of Will.


	39. Chapter 39

A Perfect Fit - Solangelo (Rated M)

"Ni-co …" Will breathes against my neck, his voice cracking, desperate.

I hold onto his back, my arms fitted under his, tucked at my sides. He can't touch me, not with his hands. He ruts against my hipbone, his fat, swollen cock pressing hard, making my breath catch in my throat, my heart stutter.

Too far. I've already let it go too far.

I squeeze my eyes shut, hating myself, and move my hands to his chest. I push. "Stop."

He does stop, but doesn't pull away at first. His reluctance hangs heavily between us as if it was a lead curtain, smothering our spark. I know what he's doing, his cheek pressed against my neck. He's taking my pulse, diagnosing my symptoms. It _is_ anxiety that I'm feeling; I'm not stupid, but I can't tell him why. I can't let go of my dignity. Not now; not ever.

He releases me at last, allowing me to back up, the back of his head thudding against my cabin door. I'm not sure what I'm doing. Protecting myself, yes, but … I don't want to lose him, this … gods! This thing we have going on, the heat, the chemistry. It's all so right. It's everything I've always wanted and never dreamed I'd actually find.

I take deep breaths to calm myself. It's been ages since I've had a panic attack, and that's not what's at stake right now, but it could go there if I don't say something. I glance up at Will, my forehead creased with worry, my eyebrows furrowed, hoping to Hades I won't see what I fear.

Will's eyes are closed as his chest rises and falls, his palms flat against the door. His shorts hang from his hips, shifted from all our rutting, and I can see it. His dick, still hard, trapped under the waistband of his briefs, so close to pushing free.

My groin throbs at the sight, my thighs clenching. Gods, I want it, him. I want so much to let go, to see him come, to make him come.

He chuckles and I snap my eyes up to meet his. He's still breathing hard, but smiling through it, warm, loving. Why are all the cards in life stacked against me?

"Nico. It's all good. I really can wait. You're worth it."

But that just breaks my heart even more. When he finds out … _IF_ he finds out, he'll see just how wrong he is. He'll realize he should have run away a long time ago, back when I first told him I was not the right guy for him. But he didn't listen. He demanded to know if I was trying to say that he wasn't what I wanted, and I couldn't lie. I tried to lie, but I failed at that too. He's _everything_ I want. And after that, he asked that he be allowed to decide for himself if I wasn't right for him. I'd just thrown up my hands, secretly relieved as all get out, and falling for him even harder than before. He pulled me into a hug, and then we made out until we were out of breath.

It's no use arguing with him. He'll break my resolve. I won't give him the opportunity. Instead, a diversion seems like my best bet. I wet my lips, smirking when his eyes follow my tongue.

"I want to …" I start to say, then halt, my cheeks flushing like fire. It can't be helped. I'm brave. I've faced worse than this, and honestly, it's something I _want_. It's not like facing a monster. "I want to make you come, Will. Can I?"

There. I said it. The words have been said, the play set into motion. Now it's up to …

Will makes a strangled sound in the back of his throat, his face screwing up.

I step closer, only a foot of space separating us.

"Yeah, but I'm already on the edge. You're not going to have to try much at all."

That statement is pure music to my ears. My heart picks up again. I want to see his his cock. I want to … everything. I drop to my knees. My hands tremble as I lower his fly, my dick throbbing between my legs, pulsing as I take in the lines of his erection against his underwear.

I bite my lip as his shorts fall to the floor, the whoosh of fabric so much louder in my ears than I expected. I pull his briefs down to his thighs and lick my lips again at the sight of glorious, sticky, reddened perfection standing rigid before me. I look up and meet his pale blue eyes as he bites his bottom lip and whimpers.

"Nico," he whispers. "Not gonna …"

I put one hand on his dick retracting his foreskin between my spread middle fingers, pushing my other hand down between my legs, and stifling my own need as Will comes with a loud groan. I watch transfixed as his slit erupts, sending spurt after spurt of white, warm come into my face, and hair, down my hand, onto the floor, and filling the room with its thick, potent scent. I don't close my eyes. I don't want to miss a second, and when he finishes and gasps to catch his breath, I lean forward and lick the remnants on his shaft, then swipe the remaining jewel at the tip, savoring the sharp taste. He twitches, his hand in my hair, but doesn't pull me off, and I take that as permission to clean him up using my tongue, licking and tickling until his cock shines with my saliva and all the white sticky mess is gone.

He pulls me up by my hands, ignoring the come still covering them, and kisses me with all he has, his tongue chasing the taste of himself around my mouth and making my dick ache all over again. I want to come too. I promise myself I will, the second I can get to the bathroom.

Will breaks the kiss and leans in close, pressing our foreheads together.

"Nico di Angelo. Have I ever told you how flipping amazing you are? Do you know that I love you?"

My heart thuds to a stop in my ribs, then starts up again, clambering faster and faster as the gravity of his words flattens my brain. We've been together for five years. He's said it to me before, but I never _really_ believed him. I made up all sorts of reasons why it couldn't be true, why it must be something he said to pacify me, or to make me feel better. But this time … I … what's happening to me? Is this it? Has he broken my steadfast final barrier?

My eyes are hot, wet, leaking; my nose, too. Damn it. I'm broken. I'm so fucking broken. I try to pull away, to clutch at my chest and attempt to hold it all back together again, but he holds the sides of my ribs in his hands, not letting go.

"I –" my voice cracks, a sob building up against my will. "I love you too," I whisper the rest, not trusting my own voice.

And then, before I can even catch my bearing, Will scoops me up bridal style, then marches in place to get his briefs and shorts off all the way. He carries me to my bed. I freeze when we get there, going stiff in his arms.

"Wait …"

"Do you trust me?" he asks, looking me square in the eyes, not giving me an option to look away.

I only see trust in his eyes. That's all they've ever shown me. I try to hate myself for wanting to deny it, but I love this dork. I swallow hard and nod, my heart aching when he raises an eyebrow as if to say 'I don't believe you.'

He sets me down and turns away, my heart sinking. But he doesn't leave.

I watch him warily, studying the strong lines in his back, the dips over his butt, his butt cheeks flexing and relaxing and making me hard all over again. I've been on the edge for hours, so swept up with my own doubts each time. Soon it won't even matter. I'll come inside my boxers and not be able to stop it.

Will turns his head, smiling at me watching his butt. I roll my eyes. Dumbass is just putting on a show.

"Yes, Will. You are a striking model of male perfection and your butt is awesome."

He turns again and comes back to the bed, then crawls over the top of me and drapes himself along my side. He plays with the few coarse hairs around my belly button, the brush of his knuckles against my sensitive skin making my dick throb all over again.

I breathe in and out again. Deep breaths. I can make it through this agony. I'm well practiced at it.

"I think you are a striking model of male perfection too, you know. And I love the way your butt feels through your jeans. I'm pretty sure I'd love how it looks just as much."

I huff a couple of 'not amused' chuckles. I'm tired. So damn tired of hiding from Will, from protecting myself, from all the barriers.

_What's the worst thing that could happen?_ I ask myself.

_He could say he made a mistake,_ the voice in my head responds.

_Will doesn't say shit that will hurt people's feelings,_ I remind myself.

_Okay, well then maybe he won't care,_ the voice answers.

It startles me. That voice is never nice. Never once has it offered any form of a hopeful remark.

"I'm scared," I whisper, then I realize that I whispered it out loud and my face grows hot all over again as Will leans closer, all worried eyes and doctor gazes.

"What of?" he asks, then he blinks. "Of me?"

I close my eyes, not able to lie, not able to fight, but also not ready to witness myself giving in. Still, it doesn't feel like I'm breaking, not like I thought it would. _Not yet,_ says that oh so_helpful_ voice in my head.

"Nico," he says, his voice soft, breath ghosting over my cheek. "We absolutely don't have to take things further right now. I really am fine going at your pace, and …"

I look at him again, meeting his gaze, and he stops talking. He's beautiful as he looks at me, his eyes earnest, his lips plump and reddened. My breathing quickens. _He said he loves me. I have to tell him, have to show that I trust him. Holding back is doing the opposite, and I'm so tired of hiding, of being afraid._

"It's not …" I start and stop again. It's freaking aggravating being me. Why is it so damn hard to just get my words out? I take another deep breath, then release it. Will makes his squinty confused face at me. It never fails to amuse me and my lips twitch up at the corners despite the loaded conversation. "It's not that I'm not ready, or that I don't want to … you know … Damn it."

My cheeks heat up again and I'm so beyond done with all this starting and stopping.

Will lies back on the pillow, and stares up at the ceiling. It's a tight fit, the two of us in my bunk, but we make it work. I look up too, watching the patterns made by the green-fire torches dance, reflecting off the obsidian ceiling.

"Go on," Will says, and I realize that I'm taking quite a long time with this pause. "Maybe it will be easier to tell me if I'm not staring at you. You think?"

"Yeah," I say, then turn onto my side, facing him, but not looking at his face. I prop myself up on my elbow, devouring his body with my eyes. I touch his chest, his skin hot against my cold hand. They get cold when I'm nervous. "I want to do it all, Will," I tell his nipples as I brush them with my finger tips. "I want to touch you all over, to let you touch me, to spend hours just learning each other's body. I want to make love in every way we can think up, and to fall asleep together with our bare legs tangled."

I can feel his heart beating faster under my hand. Looking down, his dick stirs back to life. I don't think my hard-on has gone away at all, despite the tension. I'm so far gone for Will, it's not funny. I swallow hard, watching his dick swell, twitching. I'm going to say it. It feels like the moment I should.

"The problem is … I'm embarrassed. I tell myself it's nothing I can control, that it shouldn't be an issue, that I shouldn't feel ashamed, but I can't help it. I think people will judge me, that you will be disappointed and I have no control over that at all. There's nothing I can do."

Will threads his fingers in my hair, still not looking at me – I'm grateful for that. It is easier without his eyes on me. He moves his hand down the back of my neck, warming me even more, its weight a comforting presence. "If there's nothing you can do, Nico, there's nothing you can do. Please tell me. I'll back you up."

I smile, then tuck my head against his side, his arm wrapped around my shoulders and back. "I'm small," I murmur. I inhale his scent, sunshine and sex, that's what he smells like. So perfect.

He brushes his hand over my back, warming me up all over, then hesitates at the waistband of my jeans.

"What was that?" he asks. "I didn't hear."

I breathe out, a long sigh, and then lift my head. I look at his face.

"Look at me."

He does. His eyebrows lifted, pale blue eyes finding mine and holding on.

"My dick, Will. It's small. And I'm not talking about being average, and then seeing porn and thinking you're small, I'm talking actually tiny."

Will's forehead creases at the middle, his eyebrows furrowed. "If it's part of you, it's perfect, Nico. I'm not going to stop loving you because of some size ideal."

My face explodes. I mean heat, and relief, and smiles, and I'm just happy I don't have to see myself because then I'd really be embarrassed, but it doesn't matter right now. Will's face lights up and the next thing I know, he flips me onto my back and climbs on top, then kisses me within an inch of my life.

There's heat, so much heat between us and the kisses keep feeding it. Will finally pulls back, sitting on his feet between my legs while I catch my breath, his hands on my fly.

"Can I, Nico?" he asks, his face just as flushed as mine, aroused to the point his eyes shine.

I nod, my groin aching. "I'm uh …" I stammer, my face flushing again. "I'm not going to last long. I've been worked up all day."

Will grins up at me as he grips the waistbands at my hips. I lift up, closing my eyes as he pulls my pants down. I can't look. I want to watch him, but I'm still nerve-wracked. I follow his touches by feel and lift my legs in turn so he can get my pants off and then, for the first time in my life, I'm totally naked and on display. Will shifts, arranging my legs for me, and I still won't open my eyes. It's like my eyelids are my shield. If I can't see it happening, I can do it, but it pisses me off because I'm missing out on our first time.

My eyes fly open the next second, and I stare down, so close to coming I can't believe I'm still holding out. It's amazing, so fucking hot. I watch Will, his nose pushed against my groin, his mouth fastened onto me, my entire dick inside as he swirls his tongue, adjusts the suction, his eyes mostly closed, forehead smooth. He hums, making my abs tighten.

"Shit. I'm close! Will!"

He opens his eyes, gazing up at me. They flash with amusement, and then he pulls off and smiles at me lazily, working my small dick between his thumb and forefinger, teasing the head with my foreskin, dragging it up and down over the ridge.

"I want to taste you too, Nico," he says, then winks.

I whimper as I realize what he's planning, and I grip the sheets with my fists. I need something to hold myself steady. Will pulls my foreskin back all the way, pushing firmly against my pubic bone and teases the tip of my dick with flicks from his tongue, each one like a jolt of arousal, shooting through my nerves and making me squirm. I need more pressure, something to rub up against, right under … Will sucks my dick into his mouth again and bobs his head, and that does it. I let go, my fists still tightly gripping my sheets, my hips bucking, and my eyes just drinking in the sight of Will swallowing my come, a look of complete pleasure gracing his face. All relaxed, worry lines erased, his eyes heavy-lidded.

I drop my head onto my pillow, though I don't even feel it hit. I'm so high up, I'm flying. Every inch of my body thrumming with relief, with pleasure, with Will. I start to giggle. It's impossible not to, the laughter bubbling up inside me like fizzy water: there's no keeping it in when it's all shaken up.

And then Will joins me on the pillow, his arms winding around my body, pulling me close to his, our legs tangling, our skin slick with sweat and smelling like sex. Perfection, I decide. That's what our first time smells like. I lose myself in Will's eyes, in the warmth of his body, in the way we fit together, the narrowness of the bunk no longer an issue.

"You know what?" he says after a long, shared, sex drunk gaze.

I lift my eyebrows.

"You're fucking perfect and you taste like a dream." Then, before I can even think of a response, he pushes our lips together and tickles my tongue with his.

I believe him.


	40. Chapter 40

Jason Grace: Peeping Tom, Dorkus Maximus (Part 1/2) - Sorta Solangelo - Jasico - Rated M

XxxX

Three years. I still can't believe it's been so long. We defeated Gaea three years ago and ever since, I've just been a hot mess.

Things weren't so bad at first, back when we were all just thankful to be alive, thankful that the world was still here, that a future was possible. Piper and I spent a lot of time getting to know each other better, and I think that's when it all started on a downward spiral.

I mean, there's a difference between the desperate, needy sort of falling for somebody on a quest – where you're never sure if you'll live through the next battle – and trying to make a relationship work after that pressure lets up, when it's all on your personalities and interests. I'm actually pretty boring as a person; I tend to follow the rules, to respect laws, to encourage people I see struggling, and sort of try to make a difference in individual lives. When I learned how my mother died, I made a pact with myself to stay in control of myself as much as I could manage. I don't drink; I don't do drugs; I keep up my fitness and focus on what is within my ability to control.

Piper … Well, she got that at first. But then she went to college, and I couldn't join her. Not with needing to travel between New Rome and Camp Half-Blood all the time. Heck, I've pretty much been around the world a couple of times now, following up on leads when I hear about some obscure god or other and need to put in the effort to make contact. I don't want any gods living off the grid to hear about my vow to see all gods get representation, and then assume I pick and choose, or put one over another in levels of importance. Anyway, Piper moved on from me. 'Outgrew' me, she says.

If I'm honest with myself, I saw it coming. Pretty much since I took on the pontifex mantle, but hearing it out loud – over a damned cell phone – hurts more than I want to admit.

So here I am, back at Camp Half-Blood, hiding from everybody in the communal boys' changing room nobody ever uses anymore, not since the cabins were upgraded with private bathrooms. Pretty much the only people who come here to use the shower, only do when they're so covered in sand from the beach that their cabin mates would complain if they dragged it through their living space.

It's dark in here. I didn't bother to turn on the lights when I came in. I can't bear to be alone with my thoughts in my own cabin, not with the giant statue of my father staring me down. I'm not even here on official business, so I didn't bother checking in at the Big House. What I really need right now is a friend. Someone who knows the kind of pain I'm feeling: who isn't going to try to cheer me up, but will just sit and listen, maybe distract me with a sword fight or check in every so often to make sure I'm alive. I came back to see Nico.

I don't even know how long I've been sitting here, only that I must have dozed off at some point because when I open my eyes, my butt feels like it's going to fall off from staying in one position too long. The changing benches are hard. I blink a few times, still disoriented by the darkness, and then I hear voices.

I stand up, shuffling with my hands outstretched, feeling my way across the room to where the partition separates the changing room from the communal showers. There's a hole in the partition wall near the corner, where three or four bricks were knocked out who knows how long ago. I kneel to peer through it. Somebody's using the showers. My stomach twists at the thought that peeking through a hole in the wall is pretty creepy. But I'm really not right in the head at the moment. I tell myself I'm only looking to see who it is, then I'll settle back onto the dark changing bench and pretend I'm not really here. A dim light shines from the shower stall at the end of the row; it fills the rest of the room with a low bluish glow, like a television somebody forgot to turn off at night, sort of spooky. I figure whoever it is must not want to draw attention to the fact they're in here. I don't even know how late it is, if it's after curfew or not.

A low chuckle sounds, followed by another voice shushing the first.

"Come on. Nobody ever comes in here. The walls are thick. We're good."

That's Nico's voice. I blink again, my mind blown a little bit. The idea of Nico being comfortable enough to shower with somebody else is something I've never thought about before. My mind seems to take the idea and spin with it straight into the gutter. Nico is gay. Chances are he's not showering with a girl, and that means there's another guy in there with him, and what if…

I furrow my brow. I'm not going to think about Nico like that. He's probably just cleaning up after a sparring practice and maybe they went a little over the time limit or something.

_Or something._

The next thing I know, Nico steps out of the stall and wraps a towel around his waist. He's grinning. I can't seem to move, even though my brain screams at me to stop violating my friend's privacy as Nico pulls a dripping wet Will Solace out of the shower stall. He tosses Will a towel, not letting go of his hand, and then drags him over to the wall right in front of me.

Will dries himself as best he can with one hand, and I think there's something very wrong with my brain because I can't take my eyes off his dick. He chuckles as Nico backs him up against the wall. The hole in the wall is right there beside them, displaying for my viewing pleasure: Will's thighs, his very hard dick and Nico's towel-wrapped hips a few inches in front of him.

"Alright," Will says. "Go for it, but if someone comes in, you'd better be ready to shadow-travel us out of here."

My heart thunders in my ears as Nico murmurs something and wraps his hand around Solace's dick. I shouldn't be watching this, shouldn't be hard as a rail myself as Nico jacks Will up and down, then steps closer, his towel tenting.

It sounds like they're kissing, and honestly, I don't know why I'm so hot and bothered. I've been around kissing couples before, but never like this, never so … naked.

I tell myself I should back away. I should get on my hands and knees and crawl the hell away, maybe hide in the corner and close my eyes, cover my ears, and give them privacy. I am so beyond overstepping Nico's business right now. But then he drops to his knees and I can't help it. I rub myself through my jeans, unable to not touch, doing it without even thinking about it.

I watch Nico take in Will's aroused body, drinking in every inch of skin as if he's in Elysium. His eyes fix on Will's shaft as he trails his fingers up and down the length. Then he leans forward and licks the tip barely poking free of the foreskin. He swallows his cock to the root the next second and does things with his throat and tongue that I think are still illegal in some states.

Even if I wanted to tear my eyes away, I couldn't; I'm captivated by the sight of Nico di Angelo's talented throat. I ignore the pressing agony between my legs, my mouth going dry, biting my lip to keep from moaning.

It doesn't work to keep Will Solace from moaning however, and before long, the room echoes with his moans, the slurping sounds and happy grunts that Nico makes, each one piercing my heart. I remember his confession to Cupid, and the arrow I couldn't prevent from sinking into his arm. For a while, in secret, I had worried that since I was the first person Nico saw after the arrow struck him, that Nico would end up crushing on me. But it never played out. If anything, it was my efforts, my seeking him out and forcing him to talk to me that actually allowed us to become friends. Had I misread that entirely? Did Cupid shooting Nico with that arrow cause _me_ to fall for him? No. I'm sure that's not it. I never allowed myself to think about guys after Piper and I started going out. I can't recall if I ever did before that, actually. Witnessing Nico getting busy with a boyfriend – watching Solace run his fingers through Nico's hair – I've put two and two together: I'm jealous of Will Solace! It's not because of the blow job – though, holy fuck, it's really hot! – but because I want Nico for myself.

Will comes with a cry and Nico _swallows_ it. His throat keeps on moving and his lips turn up at the corners. His face flushes pink while he makes the most amazing little moans of contentment. Will tightens his grip in Nico's hair, gasping like the stimulation is too much.

Nico pulls back, then gazes up at Will, his lips turning down, his eyes almost sad. And then he buries his face in the hinge of Will's thigh, nuzzling his cheek against Will's dick, his eyes closed. We're at eye level with each other; if Nico opened his eyes, he'd spot me. I curse myself for wanting that to happen, but it doesn't.

Will's voice sounds again, bouncing off the stone walls as he clears his throat.

Nico sighs and climbs to his feet. And then they disappear from the hole and I can hear them putting on their clothes.

I'm confused. Nico didn't come. Will didn't say anything to him after that incredible gift. Not a single word is spoken between them afterwards and then the door opens and closes with a deep thud, the hinges groaning with its weight.

My heart feels torn to ribbons. Like its been shot point blank with several dozen of Cupid's arrows and there's nothing left of my former woes. I don't give a crap about my hurt feelings after getting dumped anymore. What kills me is the idea that Nico is in a relationship that isn't giving him what he needs. He deserves to be worshipped, caressed, encouraged. If I was in Will's place, I wouldn't be able to stop the string of unending praises falling from my mouth. Probably, Nico would threaten to tape my mouth shut if I didn't knock it off, but I'd stop his complaints by stifling them with kisses.

Holy Hera. What kind of mess have I gotten into now? How the heck am I supposed to talk to Nico and keep a straight face? How can I ever look at Will Solace again without wanting to smack sense into his happy-go-lucky face?

I rest my forehead on my arms, crossed over my knees, my back to the wall. It's going to be a long night and there's no way I'm leaving this room until I regain my composure. I'll need to check in with Chiron and Mr. D and secure permission to be at camp, probably give them an idea of how long I'm planning to stay. There's no way I can have that conversation now. Best to just lie low and wait for morning.

XxxX

It's been a very long week. I managed to get through the conversation with the camp directors unscathed, but Chiron had noticed my joints and back were stiff (from sleeping sitting up on the cold bathroom floor all night) and had insisted I visit the infirmary for an evaluation.

Of course, it had been Will Solace on duty when I walked in, and, just as I feared, I had to work hard at keeping my cool and trying not to slap his sunny disposition right off.

Smug son of Apollo, he diagnosed me straight off the bat.

"This is about Nico, isn't it?" Will asked.

"What are you even talking about, Solace? Why would you think …" My heart had started beating crazy fast when I recalled Nico's face. How he'd just accepted that it was over, didn't make any demands, didn't show his usual spark. I glared at Solace. It'd struck me as odd to think that such a laid back guy would pull this sort of shit with a partner, but it was also easier for me to handle my own emotions to be able to blame somebody else.

"Uh," Will had said. "Are you saying that it isn't? Come on, Grace. Level with me." I don't know how the heck the Apollo campers do it, it's almost like charmspeak, but his level voice and reasonable questions threw me off my game and I opened right up and told him all about what I'd witnessed the night before.

"You know, Jason," he'd said. "Nico and I aren't … 'together' in the sense you seem to expect. It's really more like an arrangement of convenience. He doesn't want anything more from me; I've offered. Believe me. He sets the rules we play by and I go along with it. When he wants to alter the terms, he says so."

As I looked into Will's pale blue eyes, I could read his earnestness. He spoke the truth, and it still didn't make sense to me. "But …" I paused to prevent myself from stammering, working out what I was trying to say, "… why don't you have a say in things? Don't you appreciate how much honor he's showing you? That he trusts you to this level, is amazing. It's something that should be treasured."

Will gave me a crooked smile. His eyes looked weary. "Jason, I don't have time for a relationship right now. Not a real one. When I'm not seeing patients in here, I'm studying. My days are so long, I barely manage to get enough sleep so I won't pass out on duty. I mean, if Nico wanted more from me, I'd figure something out, or try to, but he really doesn't. He checks in and makes sure I'm eating, and when he's frustrated, he'll haul me away from my books and insist I smell like I'm festering in my own filth from forgetting to shower. We'll fool around and get clean and then he takes what he wants and I give it to him. And then we go back to the daily grind." He tilted his head, looking at me as if he was reading my inner struggle from a new perspective. "If you are interested in going after Nico, if you think you can give him what he needs or whatever it is that's going on in your head, you should talk to him about it. I promise not to say a word to anybody, even Nico. But this …" he makes a random gesture that sort of encompasses my angst from my head to my feet, "… issue, you have. It's not going to go away on its own. And if you consider Nico your friend, you'll trust him enough to confess you're messed up a bit about him. Let him make the call whether or not he wants to help you work it out. You think?"

So that's what brings me to where I'm at – wiping the sweat from my forehead after a sparring demonstration with Nico, and waiting for him to finish up the sword-fighting lesson he's teaching to a group of campers.

All week I've kept telling myself I'll follow Solace's advice, that I'll pull Nico aside to a place we won't be overheard and tell him what I think about him, what I'd really like us to become. He's already sussed out that Piper and I have split up and he seemed to accept that I didn't want to talk about it. Truth is, I don't need to talk about it anymore. Or maybe I do, but it hasn't been on my mind at all. I'm more focused on not letting Nico catch me checking him out. I've been brooding a lot over what happened in Split, with some of the things Favonius had said to me. I swear that god _can_actually read minds and had read my feelings for Nico before I even realized they existed.

I sit on the steps of the arena, next to the drinks cooler and grab myself a coke. I stare at the can, running over Favonius's words in my head again and again, looking for clues or truth or something. The fact the words have burned themselves into my brain tells me there's something important about them, something I have to figure out.

_Oh, he's not like that._

_You can read my mind?_

_I don't need to. Everyone has the wrong impression of Cupid … until they meet him._

He hadn't denied that he had read my mind, or at least had the ability to do so. I consider the facts as I turn the can of soda over in my hands, following the white swirly pattern. The tone of his voice when he'd addressed me the next time, the way it sounded amused, curious. Like he was a teacher watching me, waiting to see how long it would take for me to catch on to the subject he was teaching. _Yes, Jason Grace. I fell in love with a dude. Does that shock you?_ I wonder if he was really asking if it shocked me, _of all people_, since he could see that I had clearly had feelings for a guy at some point before. Maybe even Nico.

"Alright, Grace. Spill."

Nico's voice breaks my concentration. I look up, his dark eyes pinning me in place, holding me captive.

"Huh? What?" I ask. I try to shake the thoughts out of my brain, or at least, knock them back a few paces so I can act normal, but they've grown so dense, they don't budge.

"You've been acting odd all week. Every time I see you, you duck your eyes, or make up something stupid to say and expect me to find it funny. I recognize a diversion when I see one. What the Styx is the matter with you lately? Why are you treating me different?"

I stare at him, seriously unable to move. Even my tongue feels like it's turning to stone. I want to be able to spill the truth and trust that Nico will still want to be my friend, but fear paralyzes me. What if he doesn't want to hear it? What if the very idea of me thinking of him like I do offends him?

He narrows his eyes, sizing me up. My heart bottoms out, and I try to prepare myself for another rejection, even if he doesn't grasp that is what he's doing. But instead, he sweeps his eyes over the empty arena seats, and the field full of campers gathering their gear before turning back to me again. "Right," he says. "It's too open to have a heart to heart out here. Meet me in my cabin after curfew and we'll get this …" he makes an odd face, like he's not sure whether I'm his friend or an alien from another planet, "… weirdness out of the way so we can talk like normal again. I don't like it when my friends start changing without cluing me in, capiche?"

I nod. My head feels like it's put on fifty pounds. But when Nico smirks at me, then turns around and gives me a sideways wave as he returns to the field, hope breaks out under my skin. It tingles like electric wavelengths up and down my body, pulsing to the same pace as the sway of Nico's hips. I have to force myself to look away.

End Part 1/2 More to come soon.


	41. Chapter 41

Jason Grace: Peeping Tom, Dorkus Maximus part 2/2 - Jasico - Rated M

I'm not sure what it is I'm feeling when I climb the stairs leading up to the Hades cabin porch, my hand hovering a couple of inches before the door.

_Would you just stop being so stupid? It's Nico. Your friend. You trust him. You've trusted him with your life countless times and he's never let you down. Even if he doesn't feel the same way, why on earth would he start letting you down now?_

The door opens as I prepare to knock, and I smack Nico in the eye with my fist before I even notice.

"Shit!" I blurt out as he takes a step back, squinting his left eye, his hand lifting to cover it. I stumble over the threshold and grab his face without thinking, holding his cheeks so I can get a good look at the damage I'd inflicted. "I'm so sorry, Nico. I didn't mean– I frown. "What's so funny?"

He's cracking up. He knocks my hands away, his cheeks growing red, his eyes wet with tears of _laughter_. I'm so out of my depth, I'm not sure how to respond.

"You," he manages between bouts of giggles, "… are such … a dork." He sinks onto the edge of his bed, rolling back onto it and clutching his stomach, his laughing fit growing worse.

I approach his bed and take a seat, waiting for him to stop. When he seems perfectly content to laugh himself to death at my expense, I can't help my own lips from twitching. Giggle fits are contagious, even if you're not in a laughing mood. "I _am_ a huge dork. Are you seriously only realizing this now?"

He stops laughing and looks up at me, his arms over his head, his face flushed and beautiful. His dark eyes seem to bore holes into mine as I grin at him. My heart does a little cha-cha in my chest, like it, too, can't help but laugh at me.

"That's more like it," Nico says, his voice a little hoarse. "Now you sound like yourself again."

I shiver. The ragged, breathless way he says that, it's _hot_. It makes me wonder if that's how his voice would sound after sucking someone off, his throat battered and wrecked, coated with come. My face grows hot and I have no way of hiding it from Nico.

"Yeah," I try, then realize I sound like a thirteen year old whose voice has just started to change. I clear my throat and try again, ignoring the way Nico's cheeks puff up as he tries to hold back from laughing again. "I mean. Yeah. I'm sorry I've been acting so out of it lately. I – I'm not sure I can even explain …"

My words trail off as Nico wets his lips with the tip of his tongue, my gaze following. I meet his eyes again as soon as I realize I'm staring, and this time they smolder. His dark, almost black eyes on mine. Not black like cold, empty tunnels; black like burning coal, embers still hot enough to scorch.

"Jason," he rasps, holding me enthralled with his voice, with his gaze, with his posture. "You want me. _Say it_. Convince me it's true."

I'm so far gone, my dick stiffening with such speed, I think it temporarily deprives my brain of blood. I nod at him, words failing me. But he doesn't seem to be in any hurry. He lies there and waits for my heart to even out the bloodflow to my brain. He doesn't make any motions like he's going to try to run away or that he's afraid of hearing the truth if I could manage to get my words out.

Waiting these few moments before responding makes the surreal concept of confessing to Nico less scary, more actual. I swallow, then give my voice a try again.

"I do, Nico. I didn't plan on it. I didn't realize it was happening, that it had been building up until … until …" My face goes red again, probably tomato shades. I'm sure of it. My cheeks burn with heat. But I had agreed to convince him, that I'd prove the truth about my feelings. "I didn't recognize that I felt like this until I saw you with Solace … in the shower room … sucking him off."

Nico's expression changes slightly, his eyebrows more angled, his eyes cooler, his lips tight at the corners. "All _that_ does, Jason, is convince me that you're a guy who owns a dick and saw what it looks like to get decent head, and now you want to try it out. If that's really all it is that you want, you can go back to your own cabin now."

I shake my head. My mouth tastes sour. "Gods, I suck at this. It wasn't the fact that you were blowing Will that made me realize I want you. It was how empty it seemed. How – uh – Not even one-sided really describes it. Like you, Nico, are so totally amazing; I know this; Solace seriously knows it too, but the way …" I inhale sharply, not wanting Nico to take this like a criticism or a judgement. I can't stop now or he will think I'm judging, "…the way, afterwards. You weren't ready to stop; you weren't finished. But it's like time was up and that was that, and you didn't even get to come. I mean. Gods. Your skills, your throat. Yeah, I admit I'd love to experience that with you, but more than that, I want to _do that to you_. I want to freaking try to one-up you on the hotness scale and make damned sure that, by the end, you're so fucking satisfied that even the idea of Percy flexing his ass in the mirror at the gym when he thinks nobody's watching wouldn't spark your interest."

Nico covers his nose and mouth, unable to hold in his snort of laughter.

I chance a tentative grin at him, my eyebrows raised.

He lowers his hand, his smile firmly imprinted as if it's there against his will, and then he grabs my shirt and pulls me down beside him on the bed. We face each other. Nico starts laughing again. "Fuck me. You noticed that too? I swear upon the Styx, Jackson is the biggest cock tease in the world and he hasn't got a friggin' clue he's even doing it."

I don't think about what I'm doing as I trace his lips with my finger tip. My glasses dig into the side of my face and I knock them askew, not caring about how dorky that's gotta look.

"What are you doing?" Nico asks. His tone is like it used to be: suspicious, dark, hidden, and it completely contradicts the look on his face.

"I like this," I tell him. "Making you smile is the best thing in the world." I trace his lips again, stopping when I reach the plump center of his lower lip.

He's fast. In half a second his lips part and he sucks my fingertip into his mouth, pulling the rest of my finger in after it, fellating all around the joints with his tongue and cheeks, the roof of his mouth even.

I whimper, my dick throbbing in my jeans, my eyes growing wet. _Want you,_ my mind screams at him. I bite my bottom lip when he starts pushing back and forth with his mouth, mimicking a blow job with my finger as the model.

"Please," I groan. I take my glasses off so they don't distract me, all topsy-turvy on my nose. He takes them from me and sets them on the mattress behind him. "Please, Nico. I want to kiss you. I want to suck you off and swallow your come, even if I'm not very good at it at first, and mess up a lot. I've never done it before and I really want to … because I want to hear you make the sounds you get me to make."

Nico pulls back off of my finger, his hand at my waist, the touch sending my stomach fluttering like the freefall from the top of a rollercoaster. "Are these imaginary sounds, Jason? Because I'm pretty sure you haven't …"

I shut him up by kissing him. When his lips answer mine, turning up at the corners, and his hands circle my back as I roll on top of him and slot myself between his legs, I make actual sounds.

Kissing Nico … Damn. It's better than I could have imagined. Feeling him open up under my lips, his hard lines slackening and going soft, then gathering his strength and kissing me back with so much power, I wonder if I could even handle it if he didn't hold back. Our lips meet and press, our tongues tangling as if they've known this dance forever and have only been waiting to meet their match again. It's as natural as breathing, as walking, as following the pull of sleep into unconsciousness. And then, he bucks his hips, his feet wrapping around my ass, pulling my groin up against his, and the wolf inside me wakes and sniffs the air.

I bury my nose into the space where Nico's neck and shoulder meet, wrapping my arms around his ribs, my groin pushing up against him, my cock aching and risking bruising with how hard I push against his hip bone. I inhale his scent, intoxicated, his musk like a drug to my senses. I lick over his carotid artery, pressing my tongue to his pulse point and drinking in its quickening pace.

"Yeah," he breathes. "There. Suck on it. Use your teeth."

My mouth obeys before my mind does, and I draw his tender flesh into my mouth, laving his skin, my tongue rough, coaxing guttural cries from deep in his throat. I release the suction and change my angle, this time sinking my teeth in, but not hard enough to break the skin.

He claws at my back, his hands under my shirt, tucking the fabric up under my armpits, his nails dragging hot patterns into my skin and the heat between us rising to cooking levels.

I pull back a fraction, studying the imprint of teeth and the red patch of bruises from the suction. I murmur against his cheek, right below his ear. "So good, Nico. You're perfect."

He trembles underneath me, and I hug him tighter. If all we do is hold each other like this, I'd be content. But then, Nico smacks my head.

I loosen my hold when I see his face is red, and when he gasps for air, not from arousal, my ears burn. "Sorry. I got a little carried away."

He glares at me, or tries to anyway, his complexion evening out, becoming less red as he regains his breath. I'm still on top of him, more because I'm afraid of losing this moment, of Nico calling it off and telling me to take a hike than because I want to take things further. He rolls his eyes. "You wouldn't know 'carried away' if it bit you on the ass," he grumbles under his breath, but the smirk that follows betrays him. He's _trying_ to rile me up.

"Oh really?" I ask, grinning like the giant dork I really am. Then Nico brushes one of my nipples with his thumb and arousal shoots through my system all over again. He pinches the small nub and my dick twitches, throbbing, as if it's screaming at me to free it from my pants. He pinches again, his eyes lighting up with a mischievous gleam. "Duuuude," I groan. "I think I have a release valve connecting my pecs to my dick."

The grin he flashes at that unsettles me. Like a goth version of Peter Pan as he figures out how to manipulate his lost boys into doing something on edge of insane, he licks his lips, catching my focus again. I can't help it. If you saw what this boy can do with that tongue, with his mouth, you'd understand. And then he grabs my crotch, pulling a groan from my throat with the very suggestion that he'd like to get better acquainted.

I'm a whimpering mess under Nico's hand, and that's through the layers of my jeans and underwear. If he touched me skin on skin, I'm not sure I'd be able to hold back from coming in two seconds. If that happens though, I'll make my peace with it. Ever since I defeated Krios on Mt. Tamalpais, my dad sent me a slap on the back blessing in the form of a shock wave from a bolt of lightning. I grew four inches in about four seconds, uh, upstairs and down. And apparently part of being a son of Jupiter who then receives such a blessing – let's just say it doesn't take me long to recover. It can be a real pain to deal with being single. Heck, it's a real pain all over. Piper and I only got busy between the sheets a handful of times. I push those memories away. I am going to have to deal with the breakup at some point, but not now, not when Nico gropes my crotch with scrabbling fingers, his eyes going huge, disbelief radiating from them.

"Seriously, Jason. I need to see this beast you're packing." He pinches my nipple again, then lifts his finger to his mouth, wets the tip with his tongue, smearing saliva over his lip, and then rubs my nipple with his wet finger. I grip his biceps, my abs tightening, doing all I can to breathe through the urge to come and getting even more ramped up at the mass of solid muscles under my palms.

I nod blindly, hardly aware what I'm agreeing to. Shit. Nico could seriously own me with nothing more than access to one of my nipples, a bit of spit, and his thumb and forefinger. Somewhere in the back of my mind red flags wave, making the motions that spell out D.A.N.G.E.R and I cannot focus enough to pay them any heed. I'm jumping in with my whole self, feet first, and not bothering to watch where I'm going.

Nico flips me onto my back, far stronger than he looks, and pushes my shirt up over my face so I have to struggle to free myself from it, losing track of my arm halfway when the tightness of my jeans lets up and Nico mouths my erection through my underwear.

I'm halfway to Elysium in that moment, holding back out of pure willpower and preparing myself for the inevitability that I will lose the battle. The idea that Nico, his mouth, tongue, and that freaking gifted throat are so close to my dick wakes up my brain with a reminder flashing red that I want to see Nico get off. I don't want to use him, even if he tries to convince me that it isn't the case. It's not about who gets off, or who does what to the other; it should be about us both giving, receiving, sharing the experience. I'm not about to let my standards fall from the get go.

I finally manage to free myself from my shirt, and then push myself up on my elbows, surveying the damage. Gods, the sight that greets me is glorious. Nico, his black hair sticking out in all directions, his cheeks rosy and making his complexion glow in the dim lights from torches on the walls. He's worked my jeans down to my hips, and my underwear, already stretched to near ripping point, clings to my dick, practically see-through with the saliva Nico has worked into it.

He sits on my knees, hunched over and smearing his face all over my cock, poking me in the hip with his sharp nose, and looking as thrilled as a kid opening a present for the first time after years of not getting any. As much as I don't want to interrupt his apparent joy at unwrapping his new toy, my dick, I want to open my present too.

"Nico," I say aloud, concentrating on throwing some Jupiter-granted authority into my tone of voice, some 'not accepting any excuses' sort of attitude.

He looks up at me, his eyes sparkling, his lips already swollen and red. "How did you keep this king among cocks a secret? I want to suck you off, Jason. Can I? Please?"

_Vulcan's Forge!_ How the heck am I supposed to reject a plea like that? If I do, he'll take it that way, like I was rejecting him. I think fast, an idea spilling out of my mouth before I have time to weigh the pros and cons. Not my typical style.

"Yeah. Gods, yes," I say, my heart soaring as his face shines brighter than ever. "One condition though–"

He gives me a shifty look, eyes narrowing shrewdly. "What's the condition?" he asks, his gaze shifting back to my package before meeting mine again.

"I want to do it to you at the same time. Turn around and we can manage it."

His face darkens, and I almost backtrack and try to stuff my words back down my own throat, but then I realize he's blushing. Nico di Angelo is full on giving me the blushiest face that ever was, and if that isn't the cutest thing ever I'll sell my soul to ... you know what? You get the point. He's so cute I'm ready to make stupid-ass, not at all thought out, oaths.

I hold my breath as he rises onto his knees, his hands on the hem of his shirt, pulling it away from himself and giving me a glimpse of abs so pale, they reflect the light from the torches. He pulls his shirt off, then tosses it to the foot of the bed before dropping his hands to his fly and pulling the buttons open.

I'm suddenly dizzy and drag a in a deep breath to get oxygen back to my brain when my arousal crests, my breathing speeding up. I'm transfixed on Nico undressing over my thighs. I groan, unable to keep it inside. He pulls his pants and boxers down, and the second his erection springs free, I let go. The air grows thick with the scent of come, my underwear sticky and wetter than ever; the warm slickness slipping down my hip, smearing my backside and making a Jupiter-sized mess.

Nico chuckles, and I lift my heavy head to look at him. His small frame is wiry and strong, a contradiction that fits him perfectly. He rolls onto his back and slips his feet out of his jeans, and then turns over again in an instant, straddling my thighs, entirely naked.

"Well, that didn't take long." He grins at me, his teeth gleaming as they, like his skin, reflect the torchlight.

He takes himself in hand, stroking lightly up and down his shaft, the head of his dick poking out from his foreskin darker than the rest. I can't see him clearly from this angle, but I imagine his slit swollen, dripping, and my balls tingle as my dick stiffens for another go.

"Well, don't get yourself off too soon. I may be fast to shoot, all roused up by the first-time novelty, but I'm just as fast to reload."

He drops his eyes to my underwear, grinning again. "Good," he says simply, then walks backward on his knees, dragging my jeans and underwear off with him. My dick hits my stomach with a wet slap and Nico climbs back up a second later. "You're not kidding." He looks up at me, his face hovering over my groin. "Jason. I want to make sure you're okay with …" he gestures vaguely at himself and the bed, "… all this. I don't want to push you further…"

"Nico," I interrupt. "I'm more than sure. Please turn around so I can play too. You can do anything you want to me."

His eyebrow lifts at that and I wonder what sort of adventures I've just signed myself up for. But I trust Nico with my life, with my heart. I tell myself there's no reason I shouldn't trust him with my dick, especially as I've implied that I expect to have equal access to his body.

He's quiet for such a long moment, I wonder if I should clarify our terms, but then he shrugs and turns around, setting my world ablaze with his perfect butt cheeks on display before me. As he leans forward and down, his cheeks grazing my shaft, his asshole winks at me. So pink and _small_, I wonder if I were, at some point, to try to fuck him, how it would possibly fit.

I breathe out slowly, chasing that thought away. That's not in the cards for tonight. I mean, I really didn't think we'd be jumping into shared blowjobs tonight either. I don't even know what's been happening to me lately; I'm taking so many risks, and thinking nothing through. It's not like me, but then, I'm still figuring out who the heck I even am. I smack Nico's butt, making his cheeks jiggle and that's just a whole new sight I need to commit to memory. He pays me back for the slap by licking my shaft, then teasing my cockhead free from my foreskin with his tongue.

I grunt, incapable of forming words right now. If he doesn't get his dick up by my mouth soon, I'm going to lose my load again and break my promise to myself to make sure he gets equal attention. I grip his thighs and pull, digging in with my fingertips and he gets the message. He backs up over me, boxing me in with his knees on either side of my head. My focus narrows, no longer fixed on the bliss going on between my legs, but on Nico. His scent all around me, his arousal intoxicates me. I touch him, his dick the perfect fit for my palm, his thighs trembling beside my ears as he redoubles his efforts between my legs.

I take him into my mouth and mimic what he's doing to me, pressing with my tongue and experimenting with the amount of suction, swallowing around him and breathing through my nose. He hums around my cock, breaking his suction as I increase mine, my heart racing when he moans and nuzzles my groin, huffing his breaths.

Pulses of joy flitter around beneath my skin as I get braver, taking him in deeper and pulling back, using my tongue to tickle and explore and swallowing him as far as possible, his balls brushing my nose and forehead. And when he starts to move, rocking back and forth and setting his own pace, I hold onto his hips and go with it, giving him my mouth, my throat, my everything to his pleasure. My mind spins with visions of Nico. All the manifestations of him over the years. From his brooding dark days, emaciated and more like a ghost than a boy, to the Nico he is now, teaching younger campers to swordfight and correcting their mistakes, his smiles wide and proud when he sees improvement or when he's amused. I've never thought about how often I'd watched him, how much I'd paid attention; my memories are endless. I allow them to sink back in my mind as Nico bucks faster. He further distracts my mind when he starts sucking on my balls. He uses his hands, his mouth, his face, to ramp me up, my cock throbbing. My jaw aches.

He thrusts faster, bucking harder, the friction making my lips numb. And it's all good, and just what I want. I want him to come, to do it right into my throat, to use me because I asked him to, because his pleasure is the thing I want most in the world. But then, he throws me off course. I grip his hips, my muscles going tense, holding him in place, my focus broken. I drop my head on my pillow, and spread my thighs as a new sensation overrides everything else and I succumb to its thrall.

Nico chuckles, his vocal chords vibrating through his body and mine and I don't even know how that works. He works my dick in ways I wouldn't have thought of trying, making me slick with saliva and precome, his fingers teasing, stimulating … _my asshole_.

My dick jerks at the idea, and Nico tickles the slit with his tongue, coaxing me closer and closer to the edge. After taking a couple of deep breaths to steady myself, I'm ready to meet him in battle again. I wrap my lips around his dick, bobbing up and down. Instead of swallowing to work him with my throat, I get my fingers involved. There are two of us playing this game, and I adapt as the rules change.

I run a slippery finger along his crease, back and forth over his rim and he pushes back, moaning harder than ever, his thrusts into my mouth slower, deeper. The taste changes, the sensation.

"Fuck," he whispers, halfway between a groan and a gasp.

I relax my throat, my finger slipping inside him to the first knuckle, my face exploding with heat, with pride, as he shudders and shakes, flooding my throat with his release. I swallow and swallow until I can't anymore and relax my jaw, letting the rest spill out over my face and chest.

He grows still, catching his breath, and pulling free. I nuzzle him as if time was on hold and I could live in this moment forever, and then he breaks me. A twitch of his finger – how the hell did it get up my ass? – is all it takes. I come again, my abs tensing, my balls tight, and Nico's lips wrapped around the tip of my dick.

He laughs as he shifts off of me and then slides into place along my side, tucked under my arm. It's a weary sort of laugh as if he just doesn't have the energy left to make it any more noise than that, and it warms my heart to hear it. I hold onto his side, where my hand landed after he slotted himself against me, waiting for my brain to start functioning again.

"That was pretty good," Nico says before yawning against my chest.

_Pretty good?_

I give him a sideways glare, and then meet his smirking face, pure contentment evident in the curve of his lips, the sparkle of his eyes. He's fucking with me. That's the face I wanted to see from the start and I'm satisfied with it.

"You've had better?" I ask. My voice sounds wrecked, raspy. I meant the question to come across as playful, teasing, but when he gets quiet, my fears start creeping in again. What if he _has_ had better? What if I'm assuming things and he's really smiling to be nice? What if he thinks all I want from him is sex, or worse, what if that's all _he_ wants from me? I don't want to only be another option for Nico. _I don't want to share him with Will Solace._

"Jason." His voice reverberates through my chest, his heart thumping against my ribs, a comforting reminder that he's there with me, that I'm not alone. I meet his eyes, breathing easier.

"Yeah?"

"It was everything I've ever wanted. Better, even. I don't want us to be like … like it is with Will. But I also don't want to throw all my lots in with you if you're planning to keep going the way you have been. I'm not willing to stay here and be like a pit stop for you while you do the pontifex thing."

I can't help it, the second I hear him say: 'everything I've ever wanted', my fantasies take flight. I want to do so much more, go forward from here and have him with me. We would mark every new place we visit by making a new memory together, learning each other, growing our happiness.

"When you're ready to leave again, take me with you?"

_Gods, Nico._

"What?" My mind spins back over what he'd been saying while I was off in la-la land. I sit up, gently slipping out from under him. He rolls onto his back, looking up at me as I straddle his hips. My heart leaps at the sight of the blush staining his cheeks and chest, his eyelashes fluttering.

I don't know how it happened, how this boy showed up and turned my world on its head, upending everything I thought I knew about myself, about love and friendship, and then made me see things from his perspective; one that finally makes sense.

I lean in close, touching noses, looking at him cross-eyed. "That sounds like the best thing ever."

XxxX

After we cleaned up and fixed the bed with clean sheets, we cuddled and chatted, making plans, and agreeing we should stay on at Camp for a short while before taking on the future. We both had shit to work out from our experiences during the war and figured the best way to go about it was in a place where we had the support of friends and mentors.

I drifted off as the first rays of morning crept in through the windows. The last words Nico had shared with me still in my ears: _We dorks gotta stick together. Feels good to not be alone._


End file.
